Every year during the months of July-August, the Goa government disburses several lakhs of Rupees encouraging Goan authors to produce their artistic literary works. Similarly , the publisher gets an equal amount. The books purchased by the art and culture department are then freely distributed to libraries of school and colleges and public. So far, over 300 authors and 250 publishers have benefited from the government’s Author Financial Scheme.

Book publishing started in 2006 when prolific writer Frederick Noronha and Broadway promoter Khalil Ahmed joined hands for the first time to give Goan authors some ray of hope in their literary work. This gave a rise to self esteem as self-help books on management , environment and lighter readings came on the book stands.

Golden Heart Emporium(GHE) has joined hands with Goa1556 publisher Frederick Noronha and so far have published 70 books since its launch in 2007, with more in pipeline, says Noronha. GHE and Goa 1556 are in the process of producing Goa’s first English-Konkani pictorial comic books similar to the phantom and other comics for kids and young adults, but with local story content.

There isn’t great money yet in this section , says prolific writer Frederick Noronha, but immensely high satisfaction levels the author gets.”I ventured into this niche market forseeing a bright future for our sleepy authors and as a journo and writer myself i have often felt a shortage of publishing options. We need to work together to change this. A lot of our work is ‘crowd-sourced if delved further. My vision is to lower the barriers for those authors who want their works published, “he informs.

Frederick has promoted the Goa-Book-Club online and it supports activities. “Currently, we have made a suggestion to the State Central Library, and they bought into the idea of having an exhibition of ‘books published in Goa which is currently on at the Patto Library,” he mentions.

 

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