Every year, Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary selects a word of the year. And this year, the word that has been selected is “surreal”. And boy, are we even surprised? From Brexit to Trump’s victory and a year of terrorist massacres witnessed in various parts of the world like Brussels, Nice, Turkey, there surely cannot be a better word to sum up this year. Surreal, meaning “unbelievable”.
As we cannot wait to step into 2017, here’s taking a look at people and things from the literary world who have helped us to “indulge our imagination in every possible flight”, in Jane
Austen’s words.
Juggernaut: First Indian Book Publishing App
At a time when self-publishing is becoming a rage in the global literary scenario, India this year witnessed the roll-out of the first ever book publishing app. Taking the publishing industry by storm, Chiki Sarkar and Durga Raghunath founded Juggernaut, a mobile-first digital platform for the Indian reading community. The first book was a collection of short stories by Bollywood actor, Sunny Leone, and if you purchased it, you get a new short story delivered to your smart phone every night. If you like to read at night, there is a specially designed background to reduce stress on your eyes.
Murakami’s new novel was announced
In the latter half of this year, fans of Haruki Murakami are told that his new novel would release in February 2017. Publisher Shinchosha made the announcement. No details of the book’s title or plot were revealed, but it has been confirmed that it will be long. The new work, which will be Murakami’s 14th title, will be published in two volumes. A very strange story. That’s how Murakami himself described the upcoming novel at an event in Denmark, where he recently travelled to receive the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, 2016.
From Brexit to Trump’s victory… there surely cannot be a better word to sum up this year. Surreal, meaning “unbelievable”.
As we cannot wait to step into 2017, here’s taking a look at people and things from the literary world who have helped us to “indulge our imagination in every possible flight”.
Winnie the Pooh and Penguin, too!
This year marked the 90th anniversary of A.A. Milne’s first book Winnie-the-Pooh, an all-time children’s favourite. Anyone who has grown up with Milne’s books will be well versed in the antics of Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore and friends. This year being special, the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood are to get a new companion– none other than a penguin. It is the first authorised new character to have been based on one of Christopher Robin Milne’s real toys, with the Milne estate hoping it will fit seamlessly into the Pooh canon. Author Brian Sibley was inspired to create the character of Penguin by a little-known photograph of Milne with his son Christopher Robin Milne, in which Christopher is playing with a penguin toy alongside a teddy bear. The latter, which was renamed Winnie-the-Pooh after London Zoo’s Canadian black bear Winnie, was bought by Christopher’s mother Daphne Milne from the Harrods toy department, and was the inspiration for Milne’s best-loved stories set in the Hundred Acre Wood.
To Sir, with Love
The year ended with perhaps one of the saddest pieces of news. E.R. Braithwaite, the Guyanese author of To Sir, With Love, passed away at his home in Maryland at the age of 104 — a huge loss for the literary world. To Sir, With Love has been hailed as a seminal work for immigrants from the colonies to postwar Britain and a die-hard fan of Braithwaite, upon his demise cannot help but recollect the introductory lines to this book which has left a lasting impact for generations of readers: “The author is keen for us to understand that the Ricky Braithwaites of this world cannot, by themselves, uproot prejudice, but they can point to its existence. And this, after all, is the beginning of change; one must first identity the location of the problem before one can set about addressing it.”