Title: Books Editor
Company: The Caravan
Location: Delhi, India
Job Category: Print, Magazine
Job Type: Full time
Deadline: 25 July 2018
Company Description:
The Caravan occupies a singular position among Indian magazines. Its stories present a unique mix of detailed reportage and lively and vivid writing, with a commitment to the art of storytelling, whether the subject is politics, culture or art.
The Caravan is published by the Delhi Press Group, one of India’s leading publishers. Started in 1939, Delhi Press today publishes 33 magazines in 10 languages.
Primary Responsibilities:
– Commissioning and editing pieces for the Books section, which typically carries two essays a month. The essays explore literary, social and political subjects—usually through the analysis of recent books. The pieces in the section are never standard single-book reviews, but rather essays that use recent titles—very often more than one—to enter into and explore particular subjects. They often focus on writers who work in the regional languages of South Asia, and on topics of particular relevance to the region.
– Writing three long Books essays for the section per year.
– Coordinating the Bookshelf section that features brief descriptions of prominent upcoming titles.
– Recruiting new writers and soliciting pitches. We aim for a mix of pieces that offer comment on current events and concerns, as well as ones that highlight little-known or overlooked writers and subjects. We also aim to have essays about both fiction and poetry, as well as ones about important non-fiction books.
– Maintaining a bank of stories and ideas, in coordination with senior editors.
– To be updated on important releases and events in the publishing world, and commissioning pieces that reflect important developments and conversations.
– Staying in touch with publishers and editors and tracking important releases from which the magazine might be able to source extracts.
– Preparing and editing a list of relevant extracts to carry on the web-exclusives section each week.
– Staying up to date with the news so that, although the Books section is less closely linked to the news than the rest of the magazine, it reflects a wide political and social awareness.
Requirements:
Candidates should have at least two years of experience as an editor, at a publishing house or a journalistic or literary publication. They should have a passion for books, connections with a strong pool of writers from whom to commission essays on literature and non-fiction, and be interested in The Caravan’s style of rigorous editing—which involves close reading and analysis, and detailed discussions with the writer and other editors on structuring and refining essays. Applicants should be familiar with the archive of the magazine’s Books section, and have a strong understanding of the kinds of essays the section usually carries. They should also have contacts in publishing houses so that they can track new releases and commission essays on current subjects and books. Night, holiday and weekend work might be required.
To Apply:
Please send in a résumé, two writing samples, a detailed statement on your editing experience along with two references (with names and contact information) and a cover letter to Vinod K Jose, Executive Editor, at [email protected]. The subject line should read “Books Editor — 2018”.