verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . november 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message seagull books is a publishing venture begun in kolkata in 1982 by naveen kishore a theater practitioner . it began primarily as a response to the growing need for an indian publishing house for theater and the other arts and since then it has expanded its operations to include translations of world literature as well as twentieth and twenty first century critical theory and non fiction . 1 at present the company has registered divisions in london and new york city alongside its initial establishment in kolkata . contents 1 origin 2 distribution 3 other projects 3.1 seagull arts and media resource centre 3.2 seagull foundation for the arts 3.3 peaceworks 3.4 the seagull school of publishing 4 publications 5 references 6 external links origin edit beginning with the series new indian playwrights which translated the work of regional indian playwrights into english the project grew to accommodate film scripts especially post production film scripts . 2 the function of english in india as a link language made it possible for plays composed in the regional languages to be brought onto the same platform and thereby widening the scope of national theater.the series attempted to enhance important play scripts with additional material to provide the interested student scholar theater person and reader with more complete access to the script . theater the cinema theoretical writings on the cinema and art made up the initial catalogue of seagull books and since its inception its focus has always laid in the direction of what might be termed as the human condition . 3 today seagull books is widely considered one of the world s most respected publisher of literature in english translation . it publishes over 50 books a year almost 80 per cent of which are translations from various languages including french german italian spanish arabic chinese bengali norwegian dutch turkish and hungarian among others . seagull s titles are celebrated for their exquisite covers designed by senior editor and graphic designer sunandini banerjee and extraordinary production values . seagull s authors include some of the most revered names in twentieth and twenty first century world literature from nobel laureates jean paul sartre imre kertesz elfriede jelinek herta m ller and mo yan to jorge luis borges antonin artaud roland barthes ren char max frisch frienrich d rrenmatt thomas bernhard christa wolf ingeborg bachmann urs widmer jean baudrillard guy debord alexander kluge hans magnus enzensberger yves bonnefoy philippe jaccottet cees nooteboom ngugi wa thiong o maryse cond mahasweta devi pascal quignard h l ne cixous giorgio agamben antjie krog william kentridge tomas espedal wolfgang hilbig sibylle lewitscharoff ghassan zaqtan alawiya sobh and man booker international prize winner laszlo krasznahorkai . contemporary english language authors published by seagull include zakes mda toby litt tariq ali dan gunn and philosopher gayatri chakravorty spivak . seagull is committed to publishing young contemporary authors ; emerging european authors brought to the international arena by seagull s translations include dorothee elmiger jan brandt gunther geltinger thomas lehr florence noiville lola lafon abdourahman a. waberi monica cantieni melinda nadj abonji tilman rammstedt and abbas khider among others . seagull has been publishing specifically dedicated series of translations under the french list german list swiss list norwegian list italian list hungarian list and most recently arab list and india list ; it boasts a backlist of nearly 400 titles many of which have been widely and very positively reviewed in the international press . seagull is currently developing two eclectic and important series elsewhere texts edited by gayatri chakravorty spivak and hosam aboul ela a list that focuses on non european leftist scholarship and pride list which brings forth queer writing from around the world . distribution edit one of the ways seagull circumvented the problem of being limited to the status of a small independent publishing house catering to a niche market was by securing international distribution that would source its books to a global audience . at present the university of chicago press holds the distribution rights for seagull books throughout the world except india where it is distributed by atlantic publishers and distributors . 4 this is not co publication venture ; seagull generally holds world rights for its books . other projects edit seagull arts and media resource centre edit in 1987 naveen kishore founded the seagull foundation for the arts which was to function as a not for profit charitable trust . 3 under that trust various activities are carried out one of which has been the seagull arts and media resource centre . the resource centre possesses a vast arts library where for a nominal sum one can become a member . along with the arts library there are film and music libraries . various activities related to performance in the arts are organized and carried out by the resource centre ; ranging from dance recitals play readings photography exhibitions book reviews to theater workshops . his background in showcasing in the arts helped naveen kishore channelise his energy into the resource centre . the selling and showcasing of art acts as fundraisers for the revenue earned on the books is not always enough since most of the books published by seagull are slow sellers and selling the art helps the company to raise money for its non profit enterprises as well as some of the profit activities . seagull foundation for the arts edit the foundation creates and presents arts exhibitions major retrospectives by senior artists focuses on non saleable aspects or areas of an artist s work that commercial galleries are reluctant to exhibit and conducts research and documents the life and work of respected artists such as the late nirode mazumdar.it carries out video biography projects using the mainstream medium of television to share the lives and professional histories of important artists and translates contemporary plays by playwrights in bengali hindi marathi gujarati malayalam kannada and manipuri.it has also initiated a theater for change project with funding from the uk based network for social change and collaborates with two calcutta ngos that work with women victims of violence and with children from disadvantaged backgrounds . 3 peaceworks edit peaceworks an initiative of the seagull foundation initially began as a direct response to the godhra riots of 2002 during which time it was felt that the religious polarization between the hindu and the muslim communities needed to be addressed and examined . peaceworks thus began with discussing the hindu muslim divide with young children making them watch films encouraging them to participate in theater and talk about this difference . instead of restricting peaceworks to just the religious issue it now talks about living with difference . this could be any kind of difference physical sexual or related to gender . it tackles and exposes children to the idea of difference through the arts . 5 though peaceworks is a not for profit charitable trust under the seagull foundation for the arts and has no immediate or direct link with seagull books being an independent organization in itself there is a great deal of crossover between the two establishments . being a relatively small organization staff members from seagull books often collaborate on peaceworks projects and help in organizing its events . the seagull school of publishing edit the seagull foundation for the arts in association with seagull books and supported by the royal norwegian embassy new delhi established the seagull school of publishing in 2012 . the institute is located in calcutta west bengal . it offers two professional courses in editing and book design . the institute is managed entirely by practicing publishers editors and designers who are passionate about the craft of publishing . course duration is three months and held twice every year january march and june august . 6 seagull school of publishing offers a platform for prospective editors and book designers to hone their skills . hands on training is coupled with interactive sessions with professionals from publishing houses in india and abroad . 7 the courses include field trips to printing presses research trips to bookstores open house discussions on current issues and projects . classes focus on a range of subjects from buying and selling of rights in the national international markets to the phenomenon of e books and digital publishing . the school is equipped with a state of the art design lab and a well stocked library to help prepare each student for the global world of publishing . 8 publications edit at present each book published is classified under one of the several series heads . 9 seagull world literature swiss list german list italian list french list arab list forthcoming 2016 10 elsewhere texts enactments in performance manifestos for the 21st century conversation series what was communism selected works of mahasweta devi selected works of utpal dutt selected works of badal sircar culture studies new indian playwrights performance theory seagull filmscripts film theory art references edit freedom to read navin kishore . seagull book store . a b c seagull foundation for the arts . karmayog . publishers served by the chicago distribution center . seagull peaceworks . course overview . theseagullschool . faculty 2015 . theseagullschool . theseagullschool . the seagull school of publishing . seagull book store . the arab weekly . the arab weekly . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title seagull books & oldid 739435965 categories book publishing companies of indiacompanies based in kolkatapublishing companies established in 19821982 establishments in indiahidden categories articles needing additional references from november 2011all articles needing additional referencesarticles created via the article wizard navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 14 september 2016 at 17 41 . text is available under the creative commons 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