Kannada publishing house Abhinava hits 1,000-book mark

Kannada book publishing house Abhinava published its 1,000th book, ‘Kannada Sahitya Parampare Mattu Varthamana’ (Kannada Literary Heritage and the Present), on December 19, 2024. It is written by Narahalli Balasubramanya.

N Ravikumar and his wife P Chandrika started the publishing house in 1995 with four books — ‘Iccha Shaktiya Niroopa’ by Ravikumar himself, ‘Dampatyakkondu Sheela’ by K Sathyanarayan, ‘Pa Vem Helida Kathe’ by Ravi Belagare, and ‘Aashaya Akruti’ by C N Ramachandra Rao. Ravikumar was introduced to the literary world once he started working at a factory. “A co-worker would organise cultural programmes, plays and literary discussions. Chi Srinivasaraju from Christ College’s Kannada Sangha too published and promoted new authors,” he tells Metrolife.

Inspired by them, Ravikumar started publishing books under the name Prathibha Yuva Vedike. He had already published about 20 books when he married Chandrika. The couple, who are both writers, launched Abhinava in 1995. “People suggested we change the name of the publishing house (Prathibha Yuva Vedike) so we can publish books by authors of all age groups,” shares Chandrika.

When the couple started the publishing house, as Chandrika recalls, they didn’t have any other source of income apart from Ravikumar’s salary which was about Rs 4,000. “We had to manage our household and Abhinava’s expenses within that amount,” she recalls. 

Milestones

Among the authors whose work they have published the most is K V Tirumalesh. “He is an important figure in Kannada literature. We published many of his unpublished works between 2006 and 2011,” adds Ravikumar. Some of them include ‘Ashaya Kavya’ and ‘Vanchana Shaale’.

“S Shettar’s ‘Shangam Tamilagam Mattu Kannada Nada Nudi’, published by Abhinava in 2007, had facts that helped the central government grant Telugu and Kannada the status of classical languages,” he claims. It was Abhinava’s 100th book and has seen 11 editions so far.

“Shettar played an important role in the evolution of the publishing house. All his books are published by Abhinava,” Ravikumar adds.

Abhinava also published Devanoor Mahadeva’s book ‘Edege Bidda Akshara’ in 2012. The book became a sensation across the state and saw 27 editions over 12 years. Other important authors published by Abhinava include V K Gokak, M Y Ghorpade, M Hiranayya, Rahamat Tarikere, and Gopal Krishna Adiga.

Scholarly works

Abhinava has published more scholarly books than fiction. “One reason is because students and teachers face a shortage of resources in rural areas. Our aim was to get these books to them,” he adds. The publishing house also publishes translated works and follows a stringent copy editing procedure.