From Chennai to Bologna: Congratulations, Tara Books!

Bologna Ragazzi New Horizons Award winner!

The book is Do! with text by Gita Wolf and illustrations in the Warli style of art from Maharashtra, by Ramesh Hengadi and Shantaram Dhadpe. It's published by Tara Books, the marvelously innovative independent publishing house launched fifteen years ago by Gita and colleagues.

Sarah Blake Johnson interviews Gita Wolf on Cynsations and talks to her about writing process, collaboration, innovation, and what's next for this vibrant publishing house.

Excerpts from the jury's comments on Do!

The exquisite artistry of Katsumi Komagata has produced a beautiful book. Its pictorial minimalism has an elegant, dream-like quality. True to the traditions of Gutenberg and Bodoni, the very paper itself is of utmost importance, a refined element of a delicate, nuanced Ars Poetica that animates the whole work. In a society of wastefulness, excess and bad taste, Katsumi Komagata offers us this quiet story told in muted elegant tones.

"Bursting with bright clarity...wealth of narrative in the details...an exquisitely crafted, eminently readable book."

Congratulations to Gita, the illustrators, and everyone at Tara Books on this well-deserved recognition.

Out of the Way! Out of the Way!

Beyond sadness, life goes on, work goes on, and the words are starting to return as well.

Coming soon, my new picture book from Tulika Books, titled Out of the Way! Out of the Way!

No, you're not seeing double, the title does repeat itself. The allegorical story is about a tree and a road making room for each other, while a boy who knows them both grows along with them.

The additional oddity here is that the bylines also repeat themselves--sort of. This book is illustrated by my almost-namesake, artist Uma Krishnaswamy. See "our" Cynsations interview.

I got to meet Uma briefly this time and see the beautiful art she has created for this book.

The book will be published in English and 8 Indian languages. I'm not sure how the i and y will get differentiated in all those scripts in which an "ee" sound is an "ee" sound, "i" and "y" get written the same, and Krishnaswami=Krishnaswamy.