Publishing Commons: A Conversation with R T Samuel and Ruby Hembrom

Publishing Commons: A Conversation with R T Samuel and Ruby Hembrom

Join us for a conversation with R T Samuel and Ruby Hembrom, editor and founder-director from Blaft Publications and adivaani respectively – two indie publishers who are championing some of the most exciting and radical work in India's literary scene. Titled after Lionel Fogarty’s Harvest Lingo, this discussion will span the contemporary publishing industry in India, magic and perils of science fiction, promoting multilingual Adivasi-Indigenous writers and literary cultures, hybrid genres, children’s literature, and (re)forging the literary scene from what has been bottlenecked as the ‘periphery’ and 'ethnography'. What forms of worldmaking and possibilities are revealed when we foreground indigenous and anti-caste expression?

This conversation will be facilitated by Ananya Mishra, Lecturer in Global Race Studies at QMUL, and Prerana Kumar, poet and LAHP placement holder at Wasafiri.

When: Monday, 30 June, 6-8.30pm

Where: BLOC Cinema, Arts One, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL)

This event is a collaboration between Wasafiri, Queen Mary's Centre for Contemporary Writing (CCW) and Subtexts.

R T Samuel is an editor and independent cultural producer working between London and New Delhi. He is the co-editor of the anthology, The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF, which was helmed by a viral fundraiser that made it the second-most successful Indian publishing campaign in Kickstarter history. The book involved working with close to 30 authors, translators, and artists for close to two years, and features stories from more than six different languages and diverse mediums. From 2021-23, he was also the writer and broadcaster behind the hugely popular (20k plays and counting) underground political and cultural education podcast Clear Blue Skies S1. A lapsed investigative and culture journalist, he is currently pursuing an MSc in Anthropology and Professional Practice at University College London and is always happy to talk about 80s SFF, public radio, futures thinking, liberation theology, and Indian hip-hop.

Ruby Hembrom is an Adivasi cultural practitioner, writer, documentarian, and publisher. Her work addresses and challenges issues of non-representation, suppression, and appropriation of Indigenous cultures. She is the founder and director of adivaani (the first voices), a non-profit platform for indigenous expression and assertion. Ruby has written three books for children, including two on the Santal creation story, as well as the prize-winning Disaibon Hul (Let’s remember the rebellion), on the Santal uprising of 1855 against the oppressive forces of Indian landlords and the British empire. Her advocacy work spills into other allied areas of campaigning and movement building for Adivasis. She is currently a PhD Candidate, Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science.