Cottage industry publishing in India – with a Canadian connection

A tiny and unique publishing house in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadhu has been improbably successful at a time when bookstores and publishing houses are struggling and the world economy is not helping.

When Gita Wolf moved back to India from Germany, where she was feeling unfulfilled teaching comparative literature, she brought together some writers and designers she knew and formed Tara Books in 1994. She and her friends decided to focus on children’s books so that the children of India would be able to find their world depicted in literature.

Toronto’s Annick Press, famous for producing Robert Munsch’s children’s stories, got involved with Tara in 1996 and placed what was, for Tara, a huge order of 8,000 copies of one of their first titles, The Very Hungry Lion.

One of the things that is unique about Tara is that all the books are handmade. Early on, colours for the paints for the books were mixed in oil drums using cricket bats. Their processes have been upgraded since then and just few months ago, founder Gita Wolf converted Tara into a worker-owned collective.

Now that’s a small business success story with heart!

peace & namaste,

Zoey – founding hippy at hippy grandma

Zoey Ryan
life, business & leadership coach for women
inspiration * clarity * wisdom * enchantment
www.shaktisage.com
604-323-3700

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