An unusual collaboration between indigenous Warli artists, a writer-gardener and book artisans, this book is a celebration of the miracle that is the seed and its place in our lives and cultures. Read on for an account of its evolution, and how it came to take its imaginative final shape, a combination of four book forms—each of them reflecting a particular aspect of the cosmos contained in a seed. ...

By Anaïs Beaulieu

An embroiderer’s skill is actually revealed by the quality of the work on the reverse side of the fabric — the hidden intersection of threads and knots that hold the embroidery in place. It is not seen immediately, and yet must be impeccable. Perhaps a book works somewhat like embroidery...

By Gita Wolf and Catriona Maciver

It was a sensory experience, to say the least, to rummage through dusty drawers full of metal and wooden type faces in all shapes and sizes. Sadly, most of the sets were incomplete – since Tara had bought the press second hand, and the type was thrown in – so we found ourselves hunting down characters to form words, as though we were putting together a puzzle....

By Arun Wolf

What is remarkable to me about many Tara projects is the spirit of collaboration that lies behind them. I think this commitment to genuine dialogue finds a way of seeping through into the pages of the books, but it’s perhaps not always obviously tangible....

By V. Geetha and Sanjana Vamadevan

Our linocut-illustrated, letterpressed classic Little Girls Are Wiser Than Men was released in February of 2021. Adapted from a poetic short story by the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, this astute tale about conflict and resolution has been illustrated by the Lebanese artist and lithographer Hassan Zahreddine....

By V. Geetha

Of the many titles that we have published over this quarter century, books featuring tribal and folk art outnumber all others. The artists that we have worked with come from different traditions, spread across the country, but there are almost none from southern India. Seeing Ramu Velar at work, we realised that this part of India might not have living traditions of art, but there were artisanal traditions that could furnish visual content for illustrated books. ...

By Gita Wolf & Divya Vijayakumar

Our enduring classic The Night Life of Trees is currently in its 15th English-language edition! Along with the 33 foreign language editions of the book, which have been published by our partners in 8 languages, this adds up to a staggering total of 120,864 copies worldwide! To celebrate its long-standing legacy, we’ve brought out a poster called Tree Covers, showcasing the many looks of this quintessential book....

By Gita Wolf

What potential does art offer as healing in the time of a pandemic? As we all emerge slowly from a year filled with illness, death, and despair, we wanted to look forward to better times by recollecting a myth that’s curiously comforting. There is a belief amongst the indigenous Rathwa tribe from Gujarat that creating a particular painting—called Pithora—banishes adversity and brings about a change in fortune....

By Rathna Ramanathan

From her studio Minus 9 Design, Rathna Ramanathan has worked with Tara Books on projects over the last twenty years. Here, she reflects on her experiences of collaborating with Tara Books in the context of sustainable modes of design and production, and alternative models of publishing....