Five glorious decades of celebrating Kannada literature

Celebrating its 57th anniversary this year, Sapna Book House, has become a landmark space in Karnataka, actively promoting Kannada literature and culture

Think publishing houses and the first name that probably pops up in your mind is Sapna Book House. Their outlet in Gandhinagar today is considered a landmark store in Bengaluru, with the three-storey building housing some of the best Kannada literature, English and Kannada textbooks for competitive and medical studies, stationery, school supplies and more.

Sapna was founded in 1967 by a Suresh Shah, a Gujarati who came to Bengaluru from Mumbai. He set up a small bookshop in Gandhinagar, which today has 10 branches across Bengaluru, 10 outside Bengaluru in Karnataka including Mangaluru, Hubballi, Dharwad, Belgaum and Kalburgi, and outlets in Coimabtore and Erode.

“To cater to the needs of the online shopper, we started our online store, where we provide all kinds of books,” says Nitin Shah, the current Managing Director, Sapna Books and the son of the founder, Suresh Shah. “This vertical is taken care of by my son, Nijesh Shah.”

Nitin says his parents were struggling financially. “We lived in a chawl. My father would sleep in the RSS gymkhana at nights. He could not pursue his studies post class 10. He joined a company that was into book distribution. He worked hard and was promoted and transferred to Chennai, where they opened a branch called Pocket Book Distribution Company. After a short stint there, he was posted in Bengaluru. That is how we landed in this city.”

The family, Nitin says has lived in Bengaluru Central ever since. “It was when we moved to Bengaluru that my mother, Bhanumati, suggested that my father do something on his own, something, which would not need a huge capital investment. That is how the first bookshop was opened in 1967.”

There were two reasons for the 40 square-foot bookshop, being called Sapna, Nitin says “My parents had two dreams, to have a daughter, and to start something on their own.” Nitin completed his education in Bengaluru’s government schools and graduated from MES College, Malleswaram.

“I had turned 20 and completed my studies when my father asked me to join the family business. Unlike today, where children choose their careers, we did not have that option. My father asked and I followed.”