The One Book to read from the Asian Prize for Fiction 2023 Longlist — Joao-Roque Literary Journal est. 2017 <https://www.joaoroqueliteraryjournal.com/nonfiction-1/2024/6/15/the-one-book-to-read-for-from-the-asian-prize-for-fiction-2023>
*On Sat, 15 Jun 2024 at 14:23, 'Selma Carvalho' via GoaWriters2 <goawrite...@googlegroups.com <goawrite...@googlegroups.com>> wrote: * *"To be honest, this is one of the reasons I wanted to tell this story. Goa and its diaspora have such a rich tradition of storytelling but somehow they aren’t reaching the bookshelves outside of the state."* That's a good argument, but it somehow makes it sound as if the goal of a society to write is to reach "the bookshelves outside" the region. What strikes me as more important is (i) create a local market for local writing (ii) build acceptance for the diversity of Goan writing -- across languages, scripts, even dialects and religions. At one stage, for a short window in the sixteenth century, Goa was where the rest of Asia came to get published. Not just religious texts, but works on language, geographies, plants and more. Later, Goa shifted to the periphery of the world of printing, and Goan authors struggled to get published in a wide range of places. Like Bombay, Delhi, Karachi, Madras, Calcutta, Poona, Mangalore, Hyderabad, Sawantwadi, Malvan, Jubbulpore (sic), Shimla, Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, Luanda, Beira, Lourenco Marques, Nairobi, Rio de Janiero, London, Paris, Moscow, Singapore, Malaya, Malaysia and even Praia in Cabo Verde. All this while, Goans were writing for distant audiences, mediated by editors and publishers or printers who knew little or nothing of the local reality. While authors would understandably like to get the largest audience possible, and feel very "global", this doesn't come without its price. The latter also comes with the possibility of prizes and recognition, while Goa remains the classic case of talent not being recognised at home. A scholar or two (Filipa Vicente, for example) have also studied how the Goan writer would need to suit or adapt their work to their distant and even remote audience. Till now, Goa is yet to build a sufficiently-large audience, market or researchers for its own writing -- due to a set of complex reasons, and which one need not go into here. Meanwhile, writers who might have little of a lived experience or understanding of the local reality, continue to define this tiny region. Which could also be a challenge in terms of how a tiny place ultimately gets defined. I think there could be a clash between the small-is-beautiful and the size-does-matter approach to authoring and publishing. To me, the former has a better chance of authenticity. FN The One Book to read from the Asian Prize for Fiction 2023 Longlist — Jo... Longlisted for the Asian Prize for Fiction 2023, Mrinalini Harchandrai discusses her book. This story was inspir... <https://www.joaoroqueliteraryjournal.com/nonfiction-1/2024/6/15/the-one-book-to-read-for-from-the-asian-prize-for-fiction-2023> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Goa-Research-Net" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to goa-research-net+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/583815368.3413161.1718441694503%40mail.yahoo.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/583815368.3413161.1718441694503%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Goa-Research-Net" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to goa-research-net+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/CAMCR53KP7xK_hQYY9OEq9Js1m-XsLXJFJZtbv%2BTjYKesUJ1wvQ%40mail.gmail.com.
