On September 8, Naveen Kishore, publisher and founder of Seagull Books, received the 2021 Words Without Borders Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature. Named in honor of the first chair of Words Without Borders, Jim Ottaway, Jr., the Ottaway Award recognises an individual whose work and activism have supported WWB’s mission of promoting cultural understanding through the publication and promotion of international literature.
Founded in Kolkata in 1982, Seagull Books have published English translations of more than 500 books by major African, European, Asian, and Latin American writers. In 2005, Kishore launched Seagull Books London to reach a wider international readership. and six years later, in 2011, he established the Seagull School of Publishing with the aim of training publishers, editors, and book designers in India.
In this conversation with creative producer and theatre person, Sameera Iyengar, Kishore talks about his journey as a publisher and more.