‘By becoming a publisher, I was no longer dependent on society to tell my story’

Falah Faisal | NT

Bengaluru

Hailing from Nagpur, Yogesh Maitreya’s journey towards literature, especially reading in English started rather late. “I was 27 when I read my first novel,” he says, as he speaks on a Saturday afternoon at Champaca Bookstore where he is in conversation with Vijeta Kumar of the English Department at St. Joseph’s University. But within nine years of starting to read, he had become a publisher. Not an easy journey in this day and age when interest in books is waning.

 “It is a rare equivalent to madness if a first-generation learner is determined to be a publisher in India, where people are spending less and less money on books, and where there is absolutely no guarantee to survive financially or support from cultural bodies. But back then, to pursue publishing, I knew I had only one thing. I had people who understood why I wanted to do it,” says Yogesh who cites meeting JV Pawar, one of the founders of Dalit Panthers, as a turning point in his life.

 “I was awed by the simplicity and the intellectual capital Pawar had created. He had written five volumes on the life of Ambedkar and he gifted them to me. Reading it, I knew I wanted to translate them into English and thus began my journey,” says Yogesh who had to learn the entire process of publishing.

 “By becoming a publisher, I was no longer dependent on the society to allow me to tell my story,” he adds. Since then he has gone onto translate and publish numerous Dalit authors from various languages, his own poetry which he posts regularly on Instagram and essays about film that are published on Film Companion.

On why he chooses to write in English, he says,. “It is because it gives me space however small and it allows me to reach people who would normally avoid these stories. But in order to do so I had to first learn how to imagine and feel in English.” What he finds lacking in the portrayal of Dalits in the mainstream is their humour. “When you see suffering, you can have two responses - you can fight it or you can laugh about it. So far we have only seen the former, but I hope in the future our humour also comes through to the mainstream,” he concludes.