1929 Born at Kapurthala, undivided Punjab, 28 August. 1930 Moves to Calcutta with parents. 1948 Matriculates from St. Xavier’s School. 1951 BA in English from St Xavier’s College. 1953 MA in English from Calcutta University. Joins St Xavier’s College as English Lecturer. 1955 Marries Shyamasree Devi. 1955 Birth of son Ananda. 1959 Birth of daughter Srimati. 1962-63 Special Professor of Indian Studies at Hofstra University, New York. 1966 Delegate from India to the P.E.N. International Writers Conference in New York. […]

Remembering Professor P. Lal Professor P. Lal passed away on the 3rd of November 2010. Some of the articles written about him and condolence messages we received have been put up here. Obituaries: Scanned Images: Obituary in The Economist: The Economist Ruchir Joshi (The Telegraph, India): Ruchir Joshi – The Telegraph India Antara Dev Sen (The Asian Age): Antara Dev Sen Shashi Deshpande and others (The Hindu): Shashi Deshpande and others Rita Bhimani (The Telegraph, India): Rita Bhimani – The […]

Ananda Lal and Rubana Huq   In 1987, the Institute of Book Publishing in New Delhi established the Indian Publishing Hall of Fame, “to acknowledge, acclaim and honour those who have made outstanding contributions to the promotion of publishing and the cause of book culture in India.”[i] The inaugural list of inductees comprised, posthumously, Jawaharlal Nehru, K. M. Munshi (founder of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan), D. R. Mankekar (who authored many books of political journalism), and M. N. Rao (promoter of […]

The Writers Workshop Team Ananda Lal directs Writers Workshop since 2010, succeeding his father P. Lal. He retired as a Professor of English, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He served as the Head of that Department and has a long and distinguished career in English literary studies in India, and as a translator and editor. His books include Rabindranath Tagore: Three Plays (1987, 2001), The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre (2004), Indian Drama in English: The Beginnings (2019), Utpal Dutt: Barricade (2021) and Songs of Tagore: Poetry and Melody (2023). He has lectured […]

Glory be to Mahakala. It is now 2010. I am four score and two. Time for some home truths. Because writers workshop  has close to 3500 separate titles in its checklist (published over 50 years 1958-2008), there is a misconception that it is an Indian publishing leviathan. (No other publisher in India has that many titles on its list.) The truth is much less awesome. writers workshop has no office; it operates from my residence, from the living-room and a […]