Nosy Crow landed an “amazing and vibrant” illustrated gift book of ancient Indian fables, told by poet Nikita Gill in her first book for young children, illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat.
The book features animal fables for readers ages five and up, based on the book by Visnu Sarma Panchatantra, originally written in Sanskrit over 2,000 years ago.
Gill, who is the author of seven collections of poetry, including this year’s Where does hope come from (Trapeze), and a novel in verse, chose 10 of the ancient stories of Indian animals to present to a modern audience, including stories about a monkey outwitting a hungry crocodile, a family of elephants rescued by a group of mice brave, and a lapwing learning to listen to those he loves.
“Celebrating friendship, intelligence, love and wisdom, these stories have been carefully updated for contemporary readers and are beautifully animated by Chaaya Prabhat, with vibrant and compelling illustrations on every page,” explains the synopsis.
After hearing Gill speak on BBC Radio 3 about her love for the Panchatantra Growing up, Tegen Evans, editor at Nosy Crow, bought the worldwide rights to the text from Nicola Chang at David Higham Associates. Manda Scott, senior designer, approached Prabhat (on the photo on the right), who also grew up with the stories, to illustrate the narratives.
The currently untitled gift book will be released in hardback format with details including fabric binding, foil cover, color artwork, textured paper dust jacket, ribbon marker, and head and tail bands .
Gill is an Irish-Indian poet with a worldwide fan base, who has the attention of 631,000 Instagram followers for collections of poetry and plays that provide a largely female readership with the opportunity to recognize the value from their own experiences. She has lectured at TEDx, delivered at all of the UK’s major literary festivals, has been shortlisted for the Goodreads Choice Award in Poetry three times and recently made her first foray into music, having written for the latest single Anoushka Shankar, “Sister Susannah”. . She wrote for or was featured in the New York Times, Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Stylist Magazine, the Bookseller, Cosmopolitan, the India time and Oriental eye, among others.
Gill said of the book: “I am delighted to work with the wonderful team at Nosy Crow; the Panchatantra stories were such a big part of my childhood and I can’t wait for a whole new generation of kids to discover and amaze them.
Prabhat is an illustrator and letter artist from Chennai, India, currently working in Goa. She has worked on a number of picture books including Clothing culture (Templar Edition), The best Diwali ever (School), Bracelets for the brothers of Bina (Charlesbridge) and History of hide and seek: the Egyptians (Little tiger). She has worked with clients such as Penguin, Hachette, Facebook and Google on digital illustration projects, and has received awards for her portfolio and projects from Behance and Adobe.
Prabhat commented: “I grew up reading the Panchatantra in various forms: tales, comics and picture books. Being able to illustrate him as an adult feels like such a looping moment. It is also a great honor to illustrate the wonderful writing of Nikita Gill. “
Evans said: “We have long admired the poetry of Nikita Gill here in Nosy Crow and I couldn’t be more excited to work with her on her first book for young children. Nikita’s beautiful, warm and witty tales with a focus on friendship and intelligence will appeal to children around the world, and Chaaya Prabhat’s stunning and vibrant artwork will bring every story to life in the way. the most irresistible.
