KITAAB

Dear Reader,

First of all, I want to thank you for supporting us all along. Kitaab has been a very special literary venture for us and you have stayed with us and supported us in this exciting journey. We are grateful to you for that.

As you know, Kitaab was founded in 2005 to empower and connect Asian writers with readers globally. When it was launched 10 years ago, Kitaab filled a major void in the online literary scene in Asia by creating a link-based information storehouse where the most important stories on Asian writers and writing were carefully curated. The project was revived and revamped in 2013.

Over the years, Kitaab has evolved into a much larger project that encompasses publishing and e-commerce to serve the same community of writers, readers, publishers and agents worldwide. Run by 15 voluntary editors who sit in different parts of the world, Kitaab provides a global writing and publishing platform to emerging and seasoned writers in Asia and abroad. It is supported and guided by some of the finest writers in the region including Amitava Kumar, Kunal Basu, Anees Salim and Suchen Christine Lim who sit on our editorial advisory board. Kitaab is also getting recognised in the region. Recently, it has been invited to be the media partner of the Hyderabad Literary Festival in India.

Over the years, Kitaab has published some of Singapore’s and the region’s best writers and poets such as Yeow Kai Chai, Desmond Kon, Yong Shu Hoong, and Jee Leong Koh, amongst others. Kitaab has published interviews with over 100 Asian writers from around the world including Tan Twan Eng, Anees Salim, Amitava Kumar, Salil Tripathi, Suchen Christine Lim, Prajwal Parajuly, Romesh Gunesekera, Ken Spillman, Mahesh Rao, Meira Chand, Ovidia Yu, Shashi Deshpande, David Davidar, William Dalrymple, Shashi Tharoor, and Isa Kamari, among others.

The year 2013 marked our foray into publishing. As a publishing house, we publish original/translated contemporary literature in English and other Asian languages. So far, we have published 5 titles and a few more titles are in the pipeline by writers from Singapore, India and Hong Kong. Two of Kitaab‘s titles were launched at this year’s Singapore Literary Festival. Kitaab will publish three books by Cultural Medallion winner Isa Kamari in 2016, including the Malay writer’s first novel written in English. Kitaab has also bought the Hindi/Urdu translation rights of Isa Kamari’s pathbreaking Malay novel, Intercession. We will be acquiring more Asian titles for translation.

Kitaab has been on the frontline to speak for and defend authors’ right to dissent in a climate of censorship, and to seek gender equality and gender rights in particular and protection of human rights in general and has published numerous supporting stories from Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and China, among other places, to highlight such issues.
 
So far, we have run Kitaab on a modest budget in a bootstrapped way, without any outside help. Kitaab has been a labour of love and it needs infusion of funds to not only continue it mission of connecting Asian writers and readers but also to take it to the next level. Keeping this need in view, Kitaab has launched a crowdfunding campaign at Indiegogo.com.

We aim to raise up to USD$10,000 through our campaign. The proceeds will help Kitaab fulfil its potential and serve you and the Asian writing and publishing community in a more robust way–with better content and a far better user experience on our site. 

Those who will support Kitaab in this first-ever fundraising campaign will be rewarded with various perks, ranging from thank you notes from editors to signed copies of books to specially designed tote bags and even mention on the Kitaab website as a patron. So far, nearly more than 1,300 people have supported Kitaab’s appeal on Facebook. Kitaab has successfully raised over US$350 within the first 3 days of its campaign launch. Obviously, we have a long way to go and we won’t be able to achieve our goal without your help.

We seek your help and cooperation to make our maiden fundraising–our first in ten years–a success. Even a little contribution will go a long way and validate our effort. If you can’t contribute, at least help spread the word by sharing this message with your friends and acquaintances. We know that your time is precious but spending a few moments on this campaign will really make a difference!

So, kindly go to the campaign page here and oblige us by doing your bit: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kitaab/x/12750005#/

Thank you once again and with best regards,

Zafar Anjum
Editor, Kitaab

with
Team Kitaab