| Parent: | Kali for Women |
| Founded: | 2003 |
| Founder: | Urvashi Butalia |
| Status: | Active |
| Distribution: | Penguin Random House India (India trade) Cambridge University Press (India academic) University of Chicago Press (international print) Diversion Books (international e-books)[1] |
| Topics: | conflict studies, health, human rights, gender justice, history, cultural studies, and feminist and queer theory |
| Genre: | Many |
| Country: |  |
| Url: | www.zubaanbooks.com |
| Imprints: | Many |
Zubaan Books is India's second feminist publishing house, set up in the year 2004.[2] [3] [4] It is based in New Delhi and publishes fiction, nonfiction, academic & children's books for, by + about women in South Asia. It was founded by Urvashi Butalia and is an imprint of Kali for Women.[5]
In 1984, Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon founded Kali for Women, India's first feminist publishing house. Its objectives were to publish quality work which meet international standards. Over the years it has become an important publishing house nationally and internationally.[4] As a successor to Kali for Women, Urvashi Butalia founded Zubaan in 2004. In 2011, Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon were jointly conferred the Padma Shri award, for their contribution to the nation by Government of India.[6]
In 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zubaan worked to create PDFs of their entire collection, opening their ebookstore in August 2020.[7] They organised meetings and discussions on Zoom, including sessions on the impact of COVID-19. They also had virtual photo exhibitions, writing workshops, and more.
The word 'Zubaan' comes from Hindustani and means, literally, tongue, but it has many other meanings, such as voice, language, speech and dialect.
Zubaan has a considerable list of academic books examining issues of gender. It has a growing list of autobiographies of women, the best known of which is A Life Less Ordinary by Baby Halder. As part of its initiative to publish broadbased popular books, Zubaan regularly publishes fiction by women writers. Genres range from literary fiction to science fiction to speculative fiction. Under the imprint of Young Zubaan, there is also a growing list of fiction for the age group 6 to 18 including books like Riddle of the Seventh Stone.
Zubaan also publishes general books: fiction as well as non-fiction that focuses on themes such as conflict studies, health, human rights, gender justice, history, cultural studies, and feminist and queer theory.[8]
The publishing house has also made efforts to promote writings from women authors from the Northeast region of India, for example, the anthology, Centrepiece: New Writing and Art from Northeast India, which features 21 artists and writers within the Northeast region.