Seagull Books’ Sunandini Banerjee participates in a May discussion at the Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino, during the presentation of the three finalists for the 2025 Aficionado Award. Image: SILT
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘Original Collaboration’
Kolkata’s Seagull Books—an independent publishing house well known to many of our Publishing Perspectives readers for its work in translation—has been named today (September 3) the winner of the Aficionado Award.
This is the honor created “to recognize and pay tribute to the people, companies, and initiatives that innovate and impress in original collaboration.” The awards program is a partnership between Italy’s Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino and Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 15 to 19).
As each year, a shortlist of three contenders for the Aficionado Award was presented at Torino in May. In addition to Seagull, the three finalists included La disparition (Marseille) an epistolary medium about things that are disappearing, and zoraLIT of Berlin, an association of literature professionals.
In October, both Seagull’s publisher Naveen Kishore and its senior editor and graphic designer Sunandini Banerjee are expected to be in Frankfurt to accept the Aficionado Award. A program is set for 11 to 11:30 a.m. on the International Stage in the foyers of Hall 5.1 and 6.1, featuring Kishore, Banerjee, Feltrinelli’s Camilla Cottafavi, and moderation by Publishing Perspectives.
‘Truly Inspirational’
Followers of the United States-based Words Without Borders will recall that Seagull Books was that organization’s Ottaway Award-winner in 2021.
And in naming Seagull to its 2025 honor, the Aficionado program’s rationale reads:
“Founded in 1982, the Kolkata-based publishing house Seagull Books started out specializing in books about art, theater, and cinema. In 2005, Seagull expanded its catalogue to include the finest that world literature has to offer, from their prestigious ‘Africa List’ to a variety of European voices, and from ‘The Arab’ and ‘The India List’ to a collection of new and classic queer literature. The company’s dedication to quality shines through in the standard of the works, as well as in its dedication to translation and design.
“Seagull Books has also been admirably active with at least two other programs.“‘The Seagull Foundation for the Arts’ supports the fine arts in India and promotes experimentation and collaboration between different disciplines. The company also runs the ‘Seagull School of Publishing,’ in which company members share their insights and expertise with people interested in taking up careers in publishing. The way in which they connect all of these activities–with authors, artists, translators, and designers–is truly inspirational.'”
“Founded in 1982, the Kolkata-based publishing house Seagull Books started out specializing in books about art, theater, and cinema. In 2005, Seagull expanded its catalogue to include the finest that world literature has to offer, from their prestigious ‘Africa List’ to a variety of European voices, and from ‘The Arab’ and ‘The India List’ to a collection of new and classic queer literature. The company’s dedication to quality shines through in the standard of the works, as well as in its dedication to translation and design.
Naveen Kishore
Naveen Kishore founded the company in 1982. A recipient of the Goethe Medal and a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters, Kishore is also a published poet, a photographer, and theater lighting designer.
Sunandini Banerjee in August completed 25 years of her work. She’s a teacher at the publishing school and a translator. Her digital collages, originally created for many of Seagull’s book covers, catalogues, and illustrated books, have been exhibited in India and abroad.