Penguin drops Sonia Gandhi’s memoir after she rejects proposed ‘changes, deletions’: Report

NEW DELHI: Penguin Random House India will not publish Sonia Gandhi’s forthcoming memoir in India after the Congress leader rejected proposed changes and deletions to part of the manuscript, The Indian Express reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The publisher had sought editorial changes to portions of Belonging: A Journey of Love, but Gandhi did not agree to them, according to the report. The disagreement was followed by Penguin Random House India stepping away from publishing the book in the country.

Details of the passages that the publisher sought to change or remove have not been made public.

Several other Indian publishers are now seeking the rights to the memoir, with HarperCollins reported to be close to reaching an agreement to publish and distribute it in India.

Penguin Random House India, however, challenged the account of why it was not publishing the book.

In a statement issued in response to the reports, the company said suggestions that it had decided against publishing Belonging because Gandhi declined editorial changes did not “accurately reflect the circumstances”.

The publisher said fact-checking manuscripts and recommending changes to authors were a normal part of the publishing process and added that its position throughout the discussions was that it remained willing and keen to publish the memoir.

It declined to disclose further details, citing the confidentiality of its discussions with the author.

The memoir is scheduled to be released on November 10. Alfred A. Knopf, the U.S.-based Penguin Random House imprint that announced the book, has said its initial print run will be 100,000 copies.

The book is expected to chronicle Gandhi’s life from her early years in Italy and marriage to former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to her entry into public life and decades at the centre of Indian politics.