NAIBA Con!
Killing two birds with one stone, I'm making my plans for this weekend's NAIBA-Con (also known as the NAIBA fall conference) in Baltimore and blogging as well! Ha!
Today:
Pack.
Print out handouts for Internet panel and Emerging Leaders meeting
Saturday:
10:00 Meet my colleague Adjua at Penn Station to take the train to Baltimore.
Afternoon: visit Baltimore bookstores, including breathe books and Atomic Books. Can't wait to talk to these great booksellers and check out their stores -- honestly, this is one of the main reasons I've advocated to have the conference in Baltimore!
6:30 NAIBA board reception
8:00 Early Bird buffet supper
9:30 Quiz Bowl! This was way too much fun last year, mostly thanks to Quiz Master Joe Drabyak -- hopefully Arthur Phillips won't be there to show up all the booksellers' literary knowledge. I'm hoping to round up an Emerging Leaders team to show what the young'uns know...
Sunday:
8:00 (if I'm ambitious) Walk down to the harbor and stroll through the historic section of Baltimore with Susan Weis
8:30-9:30 Breakfast
9:45-12:15 Pick of the Lists -- a chance to hear publishers' reps talk about what's REALLY worth reading and selling on the fall and winter lists.
12:30-2:15 Moveable Feast -- one of the best and most unique parts of the regional trade shows, which I recently heard an author describe as "speed dating" for authors and booksellers. Authors move from table to table to talk to booksellers about their new work as we eat (they get to eat earlier, okay?) I've been tapped to Emcee the Feast, which will be a first for me.
Afternoon educational sessions:
I'd like to go to the ABA's Staff Development session at 2:30, if I can make it while getting our NAIBA table set up with sample displays -- check out our "Judge a Book / Buy its Cover" display, and the gorgeous book covers publishers have contributed, and think about how it might work in your store.
3:45 - 4:45 Making the Most of the Internet: Digital Tools for Booksellers, my panel with Bob Gray and Felicia Sullivan. I'm so excited about the ideas we have to offer and the conversation I'm hoping this will spark!
4:15-5:15 I'm going to try to catch the tail end of Getting the Most Out of Your Floor Space, hosted by my colleague (and floor display maven) Adjua Greaves. This is a continuation of the session we had in our bookstore talking about making conscious decisions about the use of space and imagery in the bookstore, and I expect to learn more from it.
5:00-6:00 If I have time, I'll stop by the Reading Room and see some authors performing their work.
6:00-7:30 The floor opens for a preview, and a chance to peruse the publisher tables and schmooze with publishers and authors.
7:30-9 Awards Banquet, including the Legacy Award, Book of the Year awardsd and the Dashiell Hammett Awards.
9 - 11 Noir Bar - drinks with mystery writers -- what could be better!?
Monday
8:00 (groan) breakfast
9:30-4:00 The show floor, the traditional centerpiece of the trade show/conference -- I'll definitely be checking out publishers' display ideas and recommendations for fall books.
12:00 Emerging Leaders networking lunch - Susan Weiss and I will host a table to chat with booksellers about Emerging Leaders over lunch.
2:47 My train back to New York, probably loaded down with luscious new books and valuable promo materials, not to mention great new ideas.
What a weekend -- hope to see you there....
Today:
Pack.
Print out handouts for Internet panel and Emerging Leaders meeting
Saturday:
10:00 Meet my colleague Adjua at Penn Station to take the train to Baltimore.
Afternoon: visit Baltimore bookstores, including breathe books and Atomic Books. Can't wait to talk to these great booksellers and check out their stores -- honestly, this is one of the main reasons I've advocated to have the conference in Baltimore!
6:30 NAIBA board reception
8:00 Early Bird buffet supper
9:30 Quiz Bowl! This was way too much fun last year, mostly thanks to Quiz Master Joe Drabyak -- hopefully Arthur Phillips won't be there to show up all the booksellers' literary knowledge. I'm hoping to round up an Emerging Leaders team to show what the young'uns know...
Sunday:
8:00 (if I'm ambitious) Walk down to the harbor and stroll through the historic section of Baltimore with Susan Weis
8:30-9:30 Breakfast
9:45-12:15 Pick of the Lists -- a chance to hear publishers' reps talk about what's REALLY worth reading and selling on the fall and winter lists.
12:30-2:15 Moveable Feast -- one of the best and most unique parts of the regional trade shows, which I recently heard an author describe as "speed dating" for authors and booksellers. Authors move from table to table to talk to booksellers about their new work as we eat (they get to eat earlier, okay?) I've been tapped to Emcee the Feast, which will be a first for me.
Afternoon educational sessions:
I'd like to go to the ABA's Staff Development session at 2:30, if I can make it while getting our NAIBA table set up with sample displays -- check out our "Judge a Book / Buy its Cover" display, and the gorgeous book covers publishers have contributed, and think about how it might work in your store.
3:45 - 4:45 Making the Most of the Internet: Digital Tools for Booksellers, my panel with Bob Gray and Felicia Sullivan. I'm so excited about the ideas we have to offer and the conversation I'm hoping this will spark!
4:15-5:15 I'm going to try to catch the tail end of Getting the Most Out of Your Floor Space, hosted by my colleague (and floor display maven) Adjua Greaves. This is a continuation of the session we had in our bookstore talking about making conscious decisions about the use of space and imagery in the bookstore, and I expect to learn more from it.
5:00-6:00 If I have time, I'll stop by the Reading Room and see some authors performing their work.
6:00-7:30 The floor opens for a preview, and a chance to peruse the publisher tables and schmooze with publishers and authors.
7:30-9 Awards Banquet, including the Legacy Award, Book of the Year awardsd and the Dashiell Hammett Awards.
9 - 11 Noir Bar - drinks with mystery writers -- what could be better!?
Monday
8:00 (groan) breakfast
9:30-4:00 The show floor, the traditional centerpiece of the trade show/conference -- I'll definitely be checking out publishers' display ideas and recommendations for fall books.
12:00 Emerging Leaders networking lunch - Susan Weiss and I will host a table to chat with booksellers about Emerging Leaders over lunch.
2:47 My train back to New York, probably loaded down with luscious new books and valuable promo materials, not to mention great new ideas.
What a weekend -- hope to see you there....
Comments
See you tomorrow!
Title: Lies, Lies and More Lies
ISBN: 978-0-595-43549-4
ISBN (10): 0595435491
LCCN: 2007904121
Publisher: iUniverse
Publication date: June 26, 2007.
Author: Vivek
Reviews
Vivek's iUniverse-published non-fiction book, Lies, Lies, and More Lies, is a defence of Hindu nationalism. Whatever else may be said about the book, it is pretty clear that it is well written.
----Michael Allen, Grumpy Old Bookman (listed by Guardian in 2005 as one of top ten literary blogs)
In Lies, Lies and More Lies - The Campaign to Defame Hindu/Indian Nationalism, the author, Vivek, has made a case for challenging all the major controversies that seem to surround the concept of Hindutva.
---Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay, desicritics.org
I have read your book during the summer. I have also received other comments on my review of Martha Nussbaum's book, sometimes heinous, always much less balanced than your insightful essay on Hindutva and its critics.
After giving it serious consideration, I have decided to delete my review on The Clash Within from the Amazon website. I will leave it to other readers to post their comments and provide their own perspective on the issues addressed in Nussbaum's book. As for me, I claim no expertise on the topic. I am just a plain reader who has a great admiration for India as a nation and who deeply respects its tradition of pluralism. Most of my readings on India have been works of fiction, which I don't review. As for political materials, thanks to your essay I know understand better the contested nature of the topic as well as the vigour of some readers' reaction to Martha Nussbaum's book. Thanks to this exchange, I have learned something about India, but more importantly I have seized the depth of my ignorance.
I thank you again for having kindly sent me the e-version of your collection of essays, which indeed provided me with a different and valuable perspective.
With grateful regards,
Etienne
Etienne Rolland Piegue, Amazon Reviewer
Synopsis
The last decade has seen the publication of a plethora of books like Christophe Jaffrelot’s, The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India, Thomas Hansen’s The Saffron Wave and more recently Martha Nussbaum’s The Clash Within that have been highly critical of the Hindu Nationalist Movement in India. This genre of books has been a one-sided, prejudged narration that has failed look at the movement from the Hindu perspective or even accord Hindu Nationalism a fair and scholarly treatment. At times these books have highlighted dubious incidents to put forth their point of view or held up radical fringe elements as representative of Hindu Nationalism. Lies, Lies and More Lies presents the other side of the story in a balanced manner with tangible proof backed by sound references that puts to paid many of the false innuendoes against Hindu Nationalism that have been bandied around for years; in fact it is inadvertently a point by point counter to many charges found in Nussbaum’s The Clash Within.
Over a span of 22 readable, concise chapters divided into three sections (Genesis, Kashmir and Contemporary India) and spread out over 163 pages with detailed references (at the end of the book), Lies, Lies and More Lies makes a convincing argument in favor of Hindu Nationalism, characterizes the true nature of the movement and debunks the charge that it is a hate rant or a negative ideology. According to the author: It (Hindu Nationalism) is the agonizing cry for justice and dignity of a people long suppressed and tortured; a cry that embodies the agony of the past and a new-found confidence of the present which together hopes to ensure a secure future.
The Genesis section contains an introduction that succinctly traces the origin of Hindutva: not a long winded treatise but a logical explanation put in plain words. For example, the author’s definition of Hindutva is simple: a feeling ‘which seeks dignity and justice through civilized assertiveness”. Other chapters include a critique of Naipaul’s idea of the Hindu land as a “Wounded Civilisation”, the concept of India as a nation and a review of the theories of temple destruction that occurred during the Muslim invasion. Extremely revealing is the chapter on the changing demography of South Asia: with statistics and impressive graphs this chapter spells out the dire strait of the Hindu community in Pakistan and Bangladesh and projects the changing demography of India in an all telling graph. The author makes a chilling prediction: I predict that (unless there are drastic changes) the present democratic secular republic of India in its present format has a maximum lifespan of another 50 to 100 years. The boundaries of India will shrink further with the appearance of a greater Bangladesh in the east and the secession of Kashmir in the north.
While Pakistan and Bangladesh represent the consequences of an age gone by, Kashmir is a standing preview of the events to follow in the remaining rump of the Indian sub-continent. Titled Kashmir, this section has 4 well written chapters focusing predominantly on the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits. There is an interesting article on how the CM of J&K is chosen: tongue in cheek, the title of one chapter asks: A Hindu CM for J&K: Any takers and goes on to show how the dice is loaded against the Hindu.
The last section, Contemporary India addresses the Godhra issue, the state of temples in secular India, discourses on the lack of intellectual leadership in the country and finally proposes ‘three new pillars’ of a New Secularism: Religious Détente, Demographic Status Quo and Equality.
The author ends with a note of caution: Without proper guidance, there is a real danger of Hindutva degenerating into a rampage of revenge. Hindutva is not to be equated with communal riots that kill innocent humans. Hindutva cannot be an ideology that relegates another individual to second-class status. It should be a force that makes all Indians conform to the pluralistic, secular tradition of our land that respects one and all.
In other words, Hindutva should always evoke the image of Sri Ram: strong and powerful, yet humane and compassionate.
This is a “must read” for all Indians and non-Indians as well especially (businessman, academics and others alike) who wish to understand the Hindu/Indian psyche better. The book is not a dreary treatise on Hindu nationalism but a collection of short essays that most readers will find interesting and readable. The main purpose is to convey a message succinctly.
Links
http://www.amazon.com/Lies-More-Campaign-Defame-Nationalism/dp/0595435491/
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780595435494&itm=4
(Book Available on amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com)
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Vivek