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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2018}}
{{For|the activity|Authors' conference}}
{{Infobox publisher
| image =
| parent =
| status = Active
| founded = {{Start date|1957}}
| founder = [[Purushottama Lal]]
| country = [[India]]
| headquarters = 169/92, Lake Gardens, [[Kolkata]] 700045, [[India]]
| distribution = Worldwide
| keypeople = [[Ananda Lal]]; Shuktara Lal
| publications = [[Book]]s
| topics = [[Literary criticism]], [[Poetry]], [[Drama]], [[Novels]], [[Translation]]s
| imprints =
| revenue =
| numemployees =
| url = {{URL|http://www.writersworkshopindia.com/}}
}}

'''Writers Workshop''' is a [[Kolkata]]-based literary publisher founded by the Indian poet and scholar [[Purushottama Lal]] in 1958. It has published many new Indian authors of post-independence urban literature. Many of these authors later became widely known.<ref name="ex">{{cite news|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/writers-workshop-completes-50-years-of-lite/369360/|title=Writers’ Workshop completed 50 years of literary glory|date=4 October 2008|work=Indian Express}}</ref><ref name="bu">{{cite news|url=http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/nilanjana-s-roy-p-lalthe-writer%5Cs-workshop-story/414127/|title=P Lal and the Writer's Workshop story|date=9 November 2010|work=Business Standard}}</ref><ref name="tt">{{cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-11-14/kolkata/28213705_1_purushottama-lal-chinmoy-guha-english|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104122306/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-11-14/kolkata/28213705_1_purushottama-lal-chinmoy-guha-english|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 November 2012|title=City remembers a great scholar & human|date=14 November 2010|work=[[The Times of India]]|location=Kolkata, India}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main48.asp?filename=hub150111I_Remember.asp|title=I Remember An Idyll|date=15 January 2011|journal=Tehelka Magazine |volume=8 |issue=2}}</ref>

==History==
The Writers Workshop<ref>{{cite web|title=The Writers Workshop Team|url=http://www.writersworkshopindia.com/who-we-are/|website=Writers' Workshop, India|publisher=Writers'Workshop, India|access-date=25 January 2016}}</ref> company was first founded as a group of eight writers (Lal, Deb Kumar Das, [[Anita Desai]], Sasthibrata Chakravarti writing as [[Sasthi Brata]], William Hull, Jai Ratan, Kewlian Sio, and Pradip Sen) in 1958. It was an initiative of [[Purushottama Lal]] (1929–2010),<ref>{{cite news|title=Writers' Workshop @ fifty|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-literaryreview/Writers-Workshop-fifty/article15942078.ece | date=1 March 2009 | newspaper=The Hindu|access-date=30 December 2018}}</ref> a professor of English at [[St. Xavier's College, Calcutta]].

Although it mainly publishes Indian writing in English, it has also published books in other modern Indian languages. To date, the press has published over 3500 titles of [[poetry]], [[novels]], [[drama]], and other literary works, with two focuses: [[experimental literature]] of the present day, and [[translation]]s from [[Sanskrit]] and other classical [[Languages of India|Indian languages]].

Writers Workshop of [[India]] has published the first books by many authors who have gone on to become famous, including [[A. K. Ramanujan]], Asif Currimbhoy, [[Agha Shahid Ali]], Adil Jussawalla, [[Arun Kolatkar]], [[Arvind Krishna Mehrotra]], [[Chandrakant Bakshi]], [[Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni]], [[Gieve Patel]], [[Hoshang Merchant]], [[Jayanta Mahapatra]], [[Joe Winter]], [[Keki Daruwalla]], [[Kamala Das]], [[Meena Alexander]], [[Mani Rao]], [[Saikat Majumdar]], [[Nissim Ezekiel]], [[Pritish Nandy]], [[Poile Sengupta]], [[R. Parthasarathy]], [[Ruskin Bond]], [[Shiv Kumar Batalvi|Shiv Kumar]], Saleem Peeradina, [[Tijan Sallah]], [[Vihang A. Naik]], [[Vikram Seth]], and William Hull among others who have been included in ''The Golden Treasury of Writers Workshop Poetry''<ref>{{cite web|title=Rubana Huq, ed. The Golden Treasury of Writers Workshop Poetry. Kolkata: Writers Workshop, 2008 .|url=http://journals.iium.edu.my/asiatic/index.php/AJELL/article/view/82/67|website=Asiatic Journal at IIUM|publisher=Asiatic : IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature|access-date=25 January 2016}}</ref> [[India]] .

As Writers Workshop enters its sixth decade of existence, it has become an extremely important part of the literary history of India.<ref>{{cite web|title=A life in five acts|url=http://www.harmonyindia.org/hportal/VirtualPrintView.jsp?page_id=6064|website=HarmonyIndia.org|publisher=Harmony India : a social initiative of Dhirubhai Ambani Memorial Trust|access-date=25 January 2016}}</ref> Its titles are printed as hand-loom<ref>{{cite web|title=Biblio-beauties|url=http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/asPpwI6GTYmt3EEUMcPkqO/Bibliobeauties.html|website=LiveMint|publisher=LiveMint.Com|access-date=25 January 2016}}</ref> sari-bound<ref>{{cite web|title=BEYOND THE ORDINARY - The calligrapher of Calcutta-45|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101128/jsp/opinion/story_13228555.jsp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201005608/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101128/jsp/opinion/story_13228555.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 February 2016|website=TelegraphIndia.Com|publisher=TelegraphIndia|access-date=25 January 2016}}</ref> volumes with exquisite [[calligraphy]] on them. Throughout its history, this alternative publishing venture has published authors without a distribution system to back it.<ref>{{cite web|title=P Lal obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/05/p-lal-obituary|website=TheGuardian.com|publisher=TheGuardian.com|access-date=25 January 2016}}</ref> Perhaps the most important publishing venture Writers Workshop has undertaken is Lal's translation<ref>{{cite web|title=Puroshottama Lal: sought to 'transcreate' an epic|url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/puroshottama-lal-sought-to-transcreate-an-epic-1.546823/|website=[[TheNational.ae]]|access-date=25 January 2016}}</ref> of the entire Indian epic [[Mahabharata]] in 21 volumes (appearing 2005–2023) along with his student, Dr. Pradeep Bhattachrya, and the retired [[Brigadier General]] Shekhar Kumar Sen.<ref>{{cite web|title=The P. Lal transcreation of the complete epic text in 18 volumes|url=http://www.writersworkshopindia.com/books/mahabharata/the-mahabharata-of-vyasa-all-volumes/|website=WritersWorkshop, India|publisher=WritersWorkshop, India|access-date=25 January 2016}}</ref>

After Purushottama Lal's death in 2010, his family members now run his publishing house.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite journal |url=http://www.harmonyindia.org/hportal/media/NewsDetails.jsp?page_id=338&id=N228&divId=312 |magazine=Harmony Magazine |title=Writers Workshop}}
* {{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/lr/2009/03/01/stories/2009030150010100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304153115/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2009/03/01/stories/2009030150010100.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 March 2009 |title=50 Years of Writer's Workshop |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=1 March 2009}}

==External links==
* {{official website|http://www.writersworkshopindia.com/}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Book publishing companies of India]]
[[Category:Companies based in Kolkata]]
[[Category:1958 establishments in West Bengal]]
[[Category:Publishing companies established in 1958]]
[[Category:Literary publishing companies]]

Writers Workshop (publisher) - Revision history

GarryNeuhaus77: new info - done