Based in Chennai, India, our publishing house was founded in 1994 by Gita Wolf (1). In the following year, she was joined by a few like-minded friends and a small core group began to contribute to the vision and running of Tara Books. V. Geetha (2) joined Gita Wolf in coming up with ideas and carrying them forward, Rathna Ramanathan (3) took care of design, C. Arumugam (4) looked after the production, and Helmut Wolf (5) saw to the technical side. The writer Anushka Ravishankar (6) worked for Tara in the early years, so we had a robust group creating books. What we didn’t think through, however, was how we were going to sell them. There was no real business plan, and all of us learned the basics of publishing through doing. Gradually people from different fields (7) joined the enterprise and we are now a team (8) of 14 people .
Forging a Path
The initial years put into place many of the themes, ideas and processes we are known for today. Some of our books were born from ideas and interests we had nursed for sometime — including the importance of reading for pleasure – and others were the result of chance encounters. We began by creating our books in house (8b), often in collaboration with creative people (8c) outside our organization, a practice that has continued ever since. The early years also taught us about how to work together on concepts and editing (8d), design (8e) and production (8f). It was a period of unfettered experimentation – both in terms of what we chose to bring out and how we went about it. Some of the initial books haven’t withstood the test of time, naturally enough, yet some are still actively in print (9 Timeline). But all the early books, without exception, are interesting precursors to what we came up with later. Our handmade book workshop (10), came into existence at this time. It is still functioning and thriving in ways we couldn’t have imagined, making an unimaginable number of books by hand (1) and number of books by hand (2). And finally, some experiments from the early years, like playing with book forms (12 Timeline) continue to remain an iconic part of our publishing.
The First Books
As an avid child-reader fed on Anglo-Saxon books, Gita Wolf’s initial impetus was to bring out innovative children’s books based in the Indian context – Tara began as a children’s publisher. Given our interest in art and design, we were particularly drawn to picture books, and their potential to challenge preconceptions about children’s tastes. An early manifesto (13) written by Gita Wolf sets out Tara’s ideas on the kind of picture books needed in the Indian context. Our earliest books for children were created in a spirit of radical experimentation. The very first book, called Mala (14a), was a feminist retelling of a folktale. It was followed by Landscapes: Children’s Voices (14b), a collection of children’s writing and art about the places they lived in. Then came A Wild Elephant at Camp (14c), the story of a baby elephant rescued in wildlife santuary. The following year saw the publication of The Mahabharatha: A Child’s View (14d), a retelling of the great Indian epic, written and illustrated by a child. That same year, we brought out Child Art with Everyday Materials (14e) an art pedagogy book that elevated process above product. Another important title during this period was Trash! On Ragpicker Children and Recycling (14f) a story about ragpicker children which connected the themes of child rights with urban waste and recycling. The material for this book came through a workshop we conducted, and this hands on practice to develop books (15 Timeline) is something we have kept up, through the years. These early books were milestones, precursors of themes which appeared in our titles over the years in different ways. Here are some timelines linking the earliest books to later ones, broadly dealing with womens’ rights (16a), folklore (16b), children’s writing and art (16c), ecology (16d), environment and art education (16e).
Creative Bookmaking
Apart from themes, we tested out renderings and techniques– some arose by chance, and others were chosen deliberately. Our choices were dictated at times by the limited options available to us – but equally, an urge to experiment led us to try formidably complex processes. A Very Hungry Lion (17), our first handmade book, came about through sheer serendipity – and led us to setting up our now well known handmade book workshop (10). We weren’t of course to know at that time that our books made by hand (11 Timeline) would become one of the mainstays of our publishing. Another early book called Tiger on a Tree (18), was our first serious attempt to bring together image, text, and design together to tell a story. We continued this exploration in several of our children’s books (19 Timeline) over the years. Tiger on a Tree went on to become something of a children’s classic, and continues to remain in print. A hugely experimental book called Anything But a Grabooberry (20) was next. Working with language and playing with type, it tested out the idea that typography had a voice and could create images. Featuring the designer as author, it was a direct precursor to the books based on typography (21 Timeline) which we were to publish in the years to come. Hensparrow Turns Purple (22), was another experimental book, which unfolded panel by panel into a scroll. Curious about book forms other than those made up of sequential pages bound within a cover, we decided to try something inspired by an Asian technique of storytelling. The form was innately interactive, allowing the reader take in the page as a space, and move around freely within it. Bringing out this book successfully made us delve into further possibilities: scrolls, folds-outs, pop-ups, leperellos, and other forms of the book (12 Timeline). Taken together, these initial books – and the processes behind them – laid the foundation for our publishing ethos. Of course, we grew over time, made mistakes and corrected course more than once, but we seem to have basically kept to the path we forged all those years ago.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Forging a Path
The initial years put into place many of the themes, ideas and processes we are known for today. Some of our books were born from ideas and interests we had nursed for sometime — including the importance of reading for pleasure (8a) – and others were the result of chance encounters. We began by creating our books in house (8b), often in collaboration with creative people (8c) outside our organization, a practice that has continued ever since. The early years also taught us about how to work together on concepts and editing (8d), design (8e) and production (8f). It was a period of unfettered experimentation – both in terms of what we chose to bring out and how we went about it. Some of the initial books haven’t withstood the test of time, naturally enough, yet some are still actively in print (9 Timeline).
But all the early books, without exception, are interesting precursors to what we came up with later. Our handmade book workshop (10), came into existence at this time. It is still functioning and thriving in ways we couldn’t have imagined, making an unimaginable number of books by hand (11 Timeline).
And finally, some experiments from the early years, like playing with book forms (12 Timeline) continue to remain an iconic part of our publishing.
The First Books
As an avid child-reader fed on Anglo-Saxon books, Gita Wolf’s initial impetus was to bring out innovative children’s books based in the Indian context – Tara began as a children’s publisher. Given our interest in art and design, we were particularly drawn to picture books, and their potential to challenge preconceptions about children’s tastes. An early manifesto (13) written by Gita Wolf sets out Tara’s ideas on the kind of picture books needed in the Indian context. Our earliest books for children were created in a spirit of radical experimentation. The very first book, called Mala (14a), was a feminist retelling of a folktale. It was followed by Landscapes: Children’s Voices (14b), a collection of children’s writing and art about the places they lived in. Then came A Wild Elephant at Camp (14c), the story of a baby elephant rescued in wildlife santuary. The following year saw the publication of The Mahabharatha: A Child’s View (14d), a retelling of the great Indian epic, written and illustrated by a child. That same year, we brought out Child Art with Everyday Materials (14e) an art pedagogy book that elevated process above product. Another important title during this period was Trash! On Ragpicker Children and Recycling (14f) a story about ragpicker children which connected the themes of child rights with urban waste and recycling. The material for this book came through a workshop we conducted, and this hands on practice to develop books (15 Timeline) is something we have kept up, through the years.
These early books were milestones, precursors of themes which appeared in our titles over the years in different ways. Here are some timelines linking the earliest books to later ones, broadly dealing with womens’ rights (16a), folklore (16b), children’s writing and art (16c), ecology (16d), environment and art education (16e).
Creative Bookmaking
Apart from themes, we tested out renderings and techniques– some arose by chance, and others were chosen deliberately. Our choices were dictated at times by the limited options available to us – but equally, an urge to experiment led us to try formidably complex processes. A Very Hungry Lion (17), our first handmade book, came about through sheer serendipity – and led us to setting up our now well known handmade book workshop (10). We weren’t of course to know at that time that our books made by hand (11 Timeline) would become one of the mainstays of our publishing. Another early book called Tiger on a Tree (18), was our first serious attempt to bring together image, text, and design together to tell a story. We continued this exploration in several of our children’s books (19 Timeline) over the years.
A hugely experimental book called Anything But a Grabooberry (20) was next. Working with language and playing with type, it tested out the idea that typography had a voice and could create images. Featuring the designer as author, it was a direct precursor to the books based on typography (21 Timeline) which we were to publish in the years to come.
Hensparrow Turns Purple (22), was another experimental book, which unfolded panel by panel into a scroll. Curious about book forms other than those made up of sequential pages bound within a cover, we decided to try something inspired by an Asian technique of storytelling. The form was innately interactive, allowing the reader take in the page as a space, and move around freely within it. Bringing out this book successfully made us delve into further possibilities: scrolls, folds-outs, pop-ups, leperellos, and other forms of the book (12 Timeline). Taken together, these initial books – and the processes behind them – laid the foundation for our publishing ethos. Of course, we grew over time, made mistakes and corrected course more than once, but we seem to have basically kept to the path we forged all those years ago.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Login or create an account to earn and redeem Tara Coins for discounts. They never expire and can be used without restrictions. Earn 1 Tara Coin for every ₹ 100 you spend, and get 100 bonus Tara Coins on your first order!
₹
