Kolkata: Guess who is the hottest-selling
author at the ongoing Kolkata Book Fair? Not Chetan Bhagat or
Vikram Seth, but West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Sales figures at the annual book fair, deemed one of
the largest in the world, demonstrate that Mamata has emerged
quite a literary sensation.
"The response has been overwhelming for us. We are
already running out of stock," Sudhangshu Dey of Deys`
Publishing said.
Publishing her books since 1995, he said that
thousands of copies of her books have been sold since the last
five days.
Last year, books worth Rs 10 lakh authored by Banerjee
were sold ,earning her a cool Rs one lakh in royalty.
"The sales of her books had equalled popular Bengali
authors like Mani Shankar Mukherjee and Buddhadeb Guha last
year. The sales are even better this time with the rise in her
popularity graph," the publisher said.
A regular writer and a poet besides being a feisty
politician, Banerjee has so far written around 33 books, three
of which were released last week during the inauguration of
the fair.
Bibliophiles have queued up at many stalls including
her party Trinamool Congress` stall `Jago Bangla` to read her
works.
In spite of her very busy work schedule, Banerjee has
made it a point to release her books at every edition of the
book fair for the last few years.
Her latest releases include `Poribortan` (Change),
`Kobita` (Poems) and `My Unforgettable Memories`.
Written in Bengali, the photobook `Poribortan`
chronicles Banerjee`s meteoric rise from a grassroot level
worker to the highest echelons of power in West Bengal.
`Kobita`, on the other hand, is a collection of around
60-70 poems that catches the firebrand leader in a melancholy
mood as she writes about the inevitable death.
Both the books are brought out by Deys` Publishing
while `My Unforgettable Memories` is by Roli Books.
Last year she had come up with a collection of 31
poems in the book `Netai`, inspired by the killings of nine
unarmed villagers at Netai village of West Midnapore district.
Human suffering, human rights violations, political
protests and statements have always been common ingredients of
her poetry.
`Maa`, a book of poems, and `Pallabi`, a book of long
stories, by her have gone on to receive critical acclaim from
the literary world as well.
Two of her rhyme books `Shishu Shathi` and `Ajab
Chhora` have been a huge hit among children.
`Upalabdhi` (Achievement), a collection of political
essays, remains her top-selling title, publishers said.
PTI
