Over the past two decades, the Book Office of the French Institute in India has been working to bring the Indian bibliophile a touch of French to their bookshelves. However, even ardent readers tend to gravitate to the classics. As a result, market constraints born of a lack of awareness limited the access available to Indian readers, for more contemporary French literature. This is when we realised we had to play a bigger role – and in this was born the Pardon My French! programme.
Pardon my French! is an initiative launched by the French Institute in India to make French translated titles more easily available, by partnering with a network of independent bookstores located across the country. Together with the bookstore owners, the book office of the French Institute in India has curated a list of the finest contemporary French titles translated into English and regional languages, to ensure that they reach the Indian reader. This partnership involved creating new collaborations between publishers, distributors and the bookstores to make sure French books could find their way to Indian bookshelves!
Corners have already opened in several Indian cities, including Delhi, Jaipur, Goa, Varanasi, Chandigarh and Pondicherry. The network is aimed to extend to more cities in the coming month, including Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, chasing the objective to be present in every city equipped with an Alliance Française.
Speaking on the launch of the Pardon my French! initiative, H.E. Mr. Thierry Mathou, Ambassador of France to India, remarked: “Literary cooperation between France and India is going a step forward by involving Indian distributors and bookstores- key actors in the book and publishing sector. By making French titles translated into English available to Indian readers as well as French titles translated into regional languages more visible, we aim to promote the beauty and the richness of the French literary tradition in India and further inspire Indians to delve into the world of French literature”
Each bookstore in the new Pardon My French! network committed to have a selection of a minimum of 150 titles comprising both classics and contemporary translations in English and regional languages, as well as a small selection in French itself. Events will be regularly organised for the reading community and whenever a French author visits the city, a talk or signing event will be held in partnership with our bookstore partner in the city. In the near future, we wish to organise regular meetings with the network to discuss best practices, challenges and innovative ideas for the bookstore ecosystem. Through this flagship initiative, the French Institute aims to foster a culture of reading for pleasure.
Gregor Trumel, Cultural Counsellor and Director of the French Institute in India explains “Our literary cooperation spans across sectors, to include support to publishers, training provided to literary translators, and mobility opportunities for professionals interested in discovering the French book market. Somehow, booksellers had been the holes in the racket. This is this gap that the Pardon My French! aims to fill.”