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David Davidar, chief executive officer of Penguin Canada, has quit the publishing company to return to his home country India, where he plans to pursue his "successful writing career and other projects".
The company's vice president Yvonne Hunter announced on Wednesday that the charismatic CEO was leaving the company.
The Indian-origin publisher was one of the founders of Penguin India in the 1980s and had started from a basement in Delhi. He elevated the company as the best publishing company in Asia, before he made Canada his home.
He was made the president of Penguin Canada in 2004 and the CEO of Penguin International in October 2009.
Davidar is credited with turning the Canadian division around by signing up young authors of various ethnic backgrounds.
As a publisher of Penguin India, Davidar edited or published authors like Kiran Desai, Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth, Vikram Chandra, Rohinton Mistry, Salman Rushdie, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Khushwant Singh, R K Narayan, Shobhaa De, Romila Thapar, Shashi Tharoor, Suketu Mehta, William Dalrymple, Mohsin Hamid and Ramachandra Guha.
He is the author of best selling novels 'The House of Blue Mangoes' and 'The Solitude of Emperors'.
Sources said Penguin Canada will not replace Davidar and will report directly to Penguin US CEO David Shanks.
Image: David Davidar