Costartup, March 8, 2016
Mita Kapur, CEO, Siyahi
In the fabled town of Jaipur, nestled in the rich culture and traditions of Rajasthan, Mita Kapur has set a benchmark in varied forms of contemporary as well as cultural literature, by founding India’s leading literary consultancy, Siyahi. Current CEO of Siyahi, Mita Kapur has written The F-Word, which was published by HarperCollins Publishers India in 2010. A quirky yet intriguing tale of the constant struggle between taste and health, Mita Kapur struck a chord with mothers of all ages, trying to find a balance between work and satisfying the different taste buds of their family members while being healthy and nutritious. Pursuing her memoir of food and its special connection to people, she has edited Chilies and Porridge: Writing Food, an anthology of essays. Her domain in the writing field also extends to freelance journalism as she regularly writes for various newspapers and magazines, expressing her thoughts on social and developmental issues, travel and food along with writing lifestyle humor stories.
Mita used to help her writer friends, appraising their manuscripts and giving them candid feedback. It was a chance meeting over lunch with a senior editor at Little Brown that sparked the idea of starting a literary agency in her head. When she discussed the idea with Namita Gokhale, Namita said, “Go right ahead and do it.” Namita’s other piece of advice was to combine literary events with the agency because that was Mita’s strength. Being based in Jaipur, Mita was not in the thick of the Indian literary scene centred in Delhi, but her dedication led to the start of Siyahi in April 2007.