Indian Thought Publications is a

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

founded in 1942, in

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

R. K. Narayan Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami (10 October 1906 – 13 May 2001) was an Indian writer known for his work set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English along with Mul ...

. Narayan founded the company as he was cut off from England owing to the war and needed an outlet for his works. The first book to be published by the company was Malgudi Days, in 1943. The publishing company followed a short-lived journal that he founded, of the same name. The company is currently managed from a tiny home-office in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

by Narayan's granddaughter Bhuvaneswari (Minnie). Although the company was started as an effort in self-publishing, it is far from being a vanity press. The

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

and other factors meant that his British publishers did not stock their Indian warehouses and Indian readers had no access to his books resulting in Narayan starting the company. Most of the work was done by Narayan himself including distribution and collecting delinquent bills. During one such task, he met with the proprietor of

India Book House India Book House Pvt. Limited (IBH) is an importer, distributor and publisher of books and magazines in India. Formed in 1952, India Book House published paperback editions of children's authors such as Enid Blyton and Frederick Forsyth, as well ...

who convinced him to hand over the distribution function to them. India Book House continues to be the company's sole distributor. In 2006, on Narayan's birth centenary, Indian Thought Publications issued a commemorative coffee table edition of his 1974 autobiography, ''

My Days ''My Days'' (1974) is an autobiography by R. K. Narayan. It tells the story of Narayan's upbringing. ''My Days'' is an autobiography which starts with his childhood spent in his grandmother's home in Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly know ...

'', with an introduction by his long-time admirer

Alexander McCall Smith Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law and ...

References

R. K. Narayan Publishing companies established in 1942 Book publishing companies of India Companies based in Chennai 1942 establishments in India {{India-company-stub