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Since coming here six years ago to lead Penguin Canada, India-born David Davidar has emerged as one of the country's leading publishers, presiding over a renaissance in the brand's presence in the literary marketplace.

On his watch, the Canadian division doubled its revenues, won a Giller Prize for Joseph Boyden's Through Black Spruce, and earned two nominations this year for its new Hamish Hamilton Canada imprint. Meanwhile, the 51-year-old's own first novel, The House of Blue Mangoes, was an international bestseller published in 15 languages.

Last week, Penguin Group chairman John Makinson appointed Davidar CEO of a new division, called Penguin International, aimed at expanding the company's presence in emerging global markets. The Globe and Mail interviewed Davidar at his Toronto office.

What is the mandate of Penguin International?

It's a new way of looking at the world, really. The idea is that you take every established market and give them additional responsibility for high-growth markets that are attached to their division. So for example Penguin USA will have additional responsibility to develop the business in Latin America and Central America. Penguin UK will have responsibility for Russia and Eastern Europe, Penguin Australia will have responsibility for the Far East and I will have responsibility for Africa, the Middle East and India in addition to my responsibilities for the Canadian company.

This sounds similar to what many English publishers attempted in the postcolonial era.

I think the world is very different from what it was in the fifties and sixties. If you look at it, all the markets outside the U.S. and U.K., whether it was Australia or Canada, were initially export markets. Then they started publishing as well, thereby getting closer to the consumer in those markets, becoming a venue that authors could come to.

There are very big literate populations around the world who we need to get closer to, both in terms of publishing their writers and capturing new readership. The English language has penetrated faster and further than ever before. At the same time, there is the second level opportunity to publish in languages other than English. For instance, in India we publish in three or four languages other than English. So that again is an opportunity we are taking very seriously.

How's business at home?

Oddly, all the publishers I've talked to seem to be doing quite well in the teeth of a recession. Obviously there is a huge pressure on costs, we've had to keep our costs under control. There are concerns about the market in general. But I think you would find that most publishers would report they have had a pretty good year this year.

What was your mandate at Penguin Canada?

We had always been very strong non-fiction publishers but our fiction needed ramping up. We needed to be buying a lot more of the “bigger books” to try to win the big awards and obviously to increase sales. … The results speak for themselves.

What does the reader want?

The Canadian reader is very adventurous. The Canadian reader reads widely. This is a very literary market.

Tell us about your experience with Penguin India.

It was the first publishing job I ever had. I was sent to England for a while to learn the ropes, then went to Delhi, a city I had never been to before. Penguin's investment in Penguin India at that point was $10,000, including my salary. It worked. Today Penguin India is Asia's largest English-language publishing company, with revenues in the millions of dollars.

What's the next India?

At this point I have not done any study of the regions that have come under my control except for India, so that is going to be a fairly steep learning curve. But certainly there are countries in the Middle East that offer opportunities. The Arab world wants to propagate its cultural heritage in a wider way.

In South Africa there's room to grow. But also there's Nigeria, maybe Kenya. If we came up with one or two ideas a year we'd be way ahead of the game.