Arun Maheshwari receives award from Oxford Business College

It is for the first time an Indian or Hindi publisher has been conferred with this award.

Steve Bristow, the chairman of the Governing Body of Oxford Business College, bestowed the Award of Appreciation for Vani Prakashan’s professionalism and dedication towards Indian languages publishing.

“India is one of the promising markets and space for investment in 21st century. Indian languages represent the powerful cultural capital that will create a hub for cultural entrepreneurship in the sub-continent,” Bristow said. “We at Oxford Business College are recognising the zeal of this unique entrepreneurship to encourage it further.”

“Publishing is a noble cause. It is perhaps the only profession that brings greatest ideas of the world together on a single piece of paper,” said Maheshwari during his acceptance speech.

He added that being a publisher is the most adventurous profession one can be in. “It gets you to befriend the best of human race and leave behind a legacy as powerful as the written word. I am deeply honoured that the oldest business college of the global education capital has recognised Vani Prakashan as a promising institute of letters and academics,” he said.

Reiterating that India is the land of 24 national languages and many bolis, with active print and public culture in more than 18 languages, Maheshwari said this defines India’s democracy, humanity and secularism. “I am a kitabwala and I can promise you that the bookshops aren’t like the regular shops. They are spaces of culture and mannerisms that each civilization needs,” he added.

Oxford Business College is an independent education and training establishment specialising in a range of higher level business management courses, offering those embarking on their careers an alternative route to a degree, postgraduate or professional qualification. Situated in the center of Oxford City, the college was established in 1985 in the British Post-18 independent educational sector to enable development of focused skill-set in the work force.

Vani Prakashan is a leading Hindi publishing house known for its quality literature in various Indian languages. With a record history of over 6,000 books by 2,500 authors published in over 30 genres, Vani Prakashan has metamorphosed into a platform where diversity of Indian thought and culture unites.

A globetrotter at heart, Maheshwari has traveled extensively throughout the world to promote literature and the culture of reading. He has been awarded by the National Library (Sweden), Indo-Russian Literary Club and the Polish Culture Center for Literary and Cultural Exchange that he facilitated between Indo-Swedish, Russian and Polish languages, respectively. In 2008, he was given the ‘Distinguished Publisher Award’ by the Federation of Indian Publishers.