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Permanent Black

Overview

Permanent Black is an Indian independent publishing house specialising in serious non-fiction in the humanities and social sciences. Based in the Himalayan foothills near Ranikhet in Uttarakhand, it is known for scholarly titles in history, political theory, anthropology, religion, and cultural studies, with a particular focus on South Asia.

Name Permanent Black
Type Independent publishing house
Industry Book publishing
Focus Humanities and social sciences; South Asian studies
Country India
Founders Rukun Advani and Anuradha Roy

Background

Permanent Black was established by Rukun Advani, formerly an editor at Oxford University Press India, together with the writer and designer Anuradha Roy. The press was set up as a small, editorially driven operation that would publish a limited number of carefully selected academic and trade non-fiction titles each year. Its catalogue draws extensively from contemporary scholarship on Indian history, politics, sociology, religion, philosophy, and the arts.

Editorial profile

The press has built a reputation for publishing authors associated with leading universities in India and abroad, frequently issuing Indian editions of books co-published with international academic publishers. Its design aesthetic, often credited to Anuradha Roy, has been recognised for distinctive cover art and typography that distinguish its titles within the Indian academic market.

Subject areas

  • Modern and pre-modern Indian history
  • Political theory and intellectual history
  • Sociology and social anthropology
  • Religion, philosophy, and theology
  • Literary and cultural studies
  • Biography and memoir

Operations

The press is run as a compact editorial outfit and operates from Uttarakhand rather than from the larger publishing centres of Delhi or Mumbai. Distribution is handled through partner arrangements with established Indian distributors, while several titles are co-published with university presses in India, the United Kingdom, and the United States, allowing simultaneous availability across regional markets.

Significance

Permanent Black is widely cited as an example of a small, independent Indian publisher that has sustained a strong scholarly list outside the structures of multinational and university press publishing. It has played a notable role in making academic monographs on South Asia accessible in Indian editions at prices suited to local readers, and its catalogue is regularly used in university teaching and research.

References