Western World's publishing industry fails readers

Orhan Pamuk says "that being a writer from the non-Western world, posed a series of problems such as the question of human experience being marginalised only because it was not written in the language of the Western world.

"My essential concern is with non-Western writers who do not write in English. They don't find true representation. Most of the writers at a festival like Jaipur are in English. This is because may be English is the official language here. But for those writing in other languages, their work is rarely translated and never read. So much of human experience is marginalised. This is a major deficiency," Pamuk said.

"When I write about love, the critics in the US and Britain say that this Turkish writer writes very interesting things about Turkish love. Why can't love be general? I am always resentful and angry of this attempt to narrow me and my capacity to experience this humanity. When non-Western authors express this humanity through their work their humanity is reduced to their nation's humanity," he said." SOURCE

While this may seem like the concerns of a very select group of foreign writers who see their works published in the English language, it should worry all readers.