(Left) Founder of Konark Publishers KPR Nair at the launch of Congress leader Manish Tewari's book 'Fables of Fractured Times'. (Right) Tewari with former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah, and author-diplomat and former MP Pavan Varma at the book launch on 26 November 2018 (Supplied)
KPR Nair reached Hotel Ashok in the heart of Delhi early one morning at 5.45, a full 15 minutes before he was told to be there. Nair was soon joined by his boss Narendra Kumar, who headed the thriving Vikas Publishing House. The men made a hurried telephone call from the lobby, keeping their voices low. They then quickly reached the second floor and knocked gently at a door.
The man who welcomed them looked every inch an Indian but was actually a senior Pakistani government official. Without wasting time, he handed them a packet and asked both to scoot. “Take this and leave,” were his words. Kumar and Nair exited as quickly as they had come in.
They had just scooped a manuscript that the world would have paid anything to get hold of. It was the jailed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s last piece of writing, penned in secrecy in jail, and smuggled out, eventually reaching Delhi’s Ashok Hotel. When it was published by Vikas, it was titled ‘If I Am Assassinated’.
It became an instant bestseller — the first book Vikas published without a written agreement with the author. Pakistan’s military dictator Zia ul-Haq, who had overthrown Bhutto and jailed him, was livid. The book was a virtual indictment of Zia. He hanged Bhutto.
Now 77, Nair was only a few years old in Indian publishing when Narendra Kumar chose to confide the secret about the manuscript only to him, ignoring much-senior colleagues. It was a clear sign that Nair was destined to grow and grow in the industry. He did that.
KPR Nair receives the FPBAI Golden Award for his contribution to India’s book publishing industry in New Delhi on 24 September 2022 (Supplied)
On 24 September 2022, the Federation of Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Association in India (FPBAI) conferred its Golden Award for outstanding contribution to India’s book industry for more than 50 years to Kozhiparambil Parameshwaran Ramachandran Nair, founder and managing director of Konark Publishers.
The well-deserved honour marked a milestone in the life of KPR Nair that began in a quaint village in Kerala a long time ago.
Born to a farmer and his homemaker wife in January 1945 in Meveloor village in Kottayam district, Nair lost his mother when he was only eight years old.
He and his siblings then moved to the house of his grandparents and uncles who formed a big joint family at Kaduthuruthy, a small but ancient town. This is where he developed a love for reading that would shape his destiny.
To please his grandfather, who ran a successful hotel, Nair sold tea to nearby offices, becoming friendly with a whole lot of people. He may not have realised it but it was his maiden stint with marketing.
When he first read out flawlessly a Malayalam newspaper to a group of beedi workers at a tea shop, they clapped spontaneously. Nair was just 10 years old. They asked him to read out the paper every day, buying him tea and, at times, a snack. When he had money to spare, he would order books from Delhi by post.
Eager to make a mark in the world, Nair left Kerala at age 16, first finding his way to Bastar and then Bombay. The lure of greener pastures made him board a train to Delhi where he knew just no one.
Sonia Gandhi and World Wildlife Fund patron Prince Philip receive a copy each of ‘NC Hills: The Enchanting Land and the Bird Mystery of Jatinga’ (1994, Konark) from KPR Nair and author Dushyant Parasher, respectively (Supplied)
At age 24, he entered his chosen career by joining the Lalvani Publishing House. “Their showroom on Ansari Road was an ocean of books!” recalls Nair. He put in 12 hours of work daily, devouring British and American books in his spare time.
After a later stint at Thomson Press, Nair signed up with Vikas Publishing House, which then was the leader in India. It was the turning point in his life.
Vikas helped Nair to learn all about marketing and commissioning, particularly after teaming up with Dominique Lapierre for the hugely successful ‘Freedom at Midnight’.
Nair injected plenty of fresh ideas that helped take Vikas to zooming heights. One of the first things Nair did in Vikas was to hire 12 graduates to give a sharp focus to the marketing team. He trained them on what they had to achieve and how. Some of them are still going strong in the publishing industry today.
Nair also decided to go abroad and tap foreign markets so that Vikas could expand its footprint — and go for joint productions. Both moves eventually brought about very positive results for Vikas.
The turnover of Vikas ballooned from ₹42 lakh to ₹1 crore in just a year. It opened offices in Singapore, Nairobi, Dubai, and London. After over a dozen years, Nair quit Vikas.
(Left) KPR Nair with the late Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan during the release of the former UP chief minister’s official biography, ‘Mulayam Singh: A Political Biography’ in New Delhi in 1998; (Centre) KPR Nair with Mulayam Singh Yadav; (Right) KPR Nair with Amar Singh and Amitabh Bachchan (Supplied)
One of the first books published by Konark (Supplied)
It was at Odisha’s Konark temple that Nair and two more former Vikas colleagues met and decided to start Konark Publishers.
Nair had all the skills to get the company going. Making friends was his strength. He had learnt well how to approach authors and how to sell books. True, he did not have much money but he made it up with innovative ideas, perseverance, and a never-say-die attitude.
One of the first books Konark published was an encyclopaedia on Nobel laureates that fetched him praise from the head of the Nobel Peace Prize panel.
As the years progressed, more than 1,500 titles rolled out, almost all in English. The canvas included autobiography, business, biography, fiction, crime, history, self-help, poetry, politics, sports, and travel. Some authors of Vikas switched allegiance to Konark.
The logo of Konark Publishers (Supplied)
Among those who wrote for Konark were MS Swaminathan, BG Verghese, Vinod Mehta, Kuldip Nayar, JN Dixit, Lalit Mansingh, Muchkund Dubey, VR Krishna Iyer, Bibek Debroy, Subramanian Swamy, AG Noorani, NN Vohra, and Dr Narendra Jadhav.
The biography of former chief election commissioner TN Seshan led to a legal storm. Former CBI officer NK Singh, harassed by Sanjay Gandhi, wrote about his years in the investigation agency. A seminal contribution was ‘The Collected Works of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’ in 15 volumes.
A Konark book that made waves was ‘Who is Kalam?: A Good Human Being’.
(Left) Who is Kalam?, a book published by Konark. (Right) The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee releases the book authored by R Ramanathan at Parliament Annexe in New Delhi on 12 June 2003. Pramod Mahajan (second from left) and KPR Nair can also be seen (Supplied)
Published soon after APJ Abdul Kalam became the President, it was authored by R Ramanathan, who was his financial adviser for 15 years in the DRDO. It was published in six languages simultaneously, a feat that earned a place in the Limca Book of Records.
Amid his long foray into the world of books, Nair never forgot Kerala. He published authoritative publications on the royal family of Travancore. There were books on or by Mata Amritanandmayi Devi, Sree Narayana Guru, K Satchidanandan, PT Chacko, Oommen Chandy, TP Sreenivasan, Balachandra Menon, and K Jayakumar.
Dr Narendra Jadhav, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), releases the book ‘Sree Narayana Guru: The Perfect Union of Buddha and Sankara – A Comprehensive Biography’ in New Delhi on 14 June 2018. (From left): KPR Nair, former Kannur University Vice-Chancellor P Chandramohan, V Muraleedharan, MP-Rajya Sabha, A Sampath, MP-Lok Sabha, Ambassador TP Sreenivasan (Retd), Prof Lokesh Chandra, chairman, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Swami Guruprasad, Sivagiri Mutt, author Asokan Vengassery Krishnan, and Dr AK Merchant, national trustee-cum-secretary, Lotus Temple & Bahá’í Community of India (Supplied)
Despite digitisation and changes in reading habits caused by technological changes, India’s publishing industry is estimated to grow to ₹800 billion in 2024 from ₹500 billion in 2019. With over 9,000 publishers, Indian and foreign, India is now the third-largest publisher of English language books. The industry employs 1.2 million people.
Plenty of challenges to Indian publishing remain. One is the rising paper and printing costs. Although a global problem, it has seriously affected a country where publishing is done in 22 languages.
While Nair welcomes self-publishing, he bemoans the lack of guidelines that derail quality. Social media has given a new lease of life to authors but has unleashed a culture of paid reviews. He regrets the erosion of libraries and reading rooms in urban centres.
Nair is upset that the government has not helped publishing despite being one of the largest media-related industries in India in revenue. “With the Booker Prize 2022 being awarded to Geetanjali Shree for a translated work, it is evident that this could be the era of South Asian literature if there is enough support from governments,” he said. It is a hope.
The then Indian cricket team captain Kapil Dev releases the book ‘World Cup Cricket’, authored by Dr Narottam Puri (Supplied)
Nair now divides his time between India and Dubai, where he has set up Kyra Global, a company that seeks to take Indian publishing to a global platform.
From the time beedi workers egged him to read out for them, it has been a long, eventful, and fulfilling journey.
(MR Narayan Swamy is a freelance journalist in New Delhi. He began his career more than four decades ago. He had a long innings in UNI, AFP, and IANS. His focus areas are diplomacy, politics, and spirituality, and he loves to read and review books. He is the author of three books on the Sri Lankan conflict)
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