Background
Gita Wolf was born on December 6, 1956, in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, India. She is a daughter of B. R. and Komala Sampath.
(This unorthodox and enabling approach to art education he...)
This unorthodox and enabling approach to art education helps children experiment freely with different sorts of everyday material, from newspaper and clay to leaves and vegetables. The book features over 75 practical exercises and more than 30 pictures of actual artwork created by children. Form matches content with recycled paper and spiral binding, making the book easy to handle while giving plenty of room for individual creativity and exploration.
https://www.amazon.com/Mala-Womens-Folktale-Gita-Wolf/dp/1550374915/?tag=2022091-20
1994
(This unorthodox and enabling approach to art education he...)
This unorthodox and enabling approach to art education helps children experiment freely with different sorts of everyday material, from newspaper and clay to leaves and vegetables. The book features over 75 practical exercises and more than 30 pictures of actual artwork created by children. Form matches content with recycled paper and spiral binding, making the book easy to handle while giving plenty of room for individual creativity and exploration.
https://www.amazon.com/Child-Art-Everyday-Materials-Craft/dp/8186211179/?tag=2022091-20
1996
(An extraordinary tale adapted from an Indian folktale des...)
An extraordinary tale adapted from an Indian folktale describes the adventures of a lazy lion who is outsmarted by his prey, all complemented by vibrant illustrations and images.
https://www.amazon.com/Very-Hungry-Lion-Gita-Wolf/dp/1550374613
1996
(Drawing on a variety of Indian puppet-making traditions, ...)
Drawing on a variety of Indian puppet-making traditions, this humorously written book encourages children to experiment with materials and ideas. It shifts the focus from the finished product to the process of accidents, discoveries and mistakes by which puppets can be made. All puppets featured in the book are made by children from everyday materials. Besides step-by-step instructions, it also contains information on traditional puppetry and a section on scripting and performance.
https://www.amazon.com/Puppets-Unlimited-Everyday-Materials-without/dp/818621125X
1998
(The enduring story of Antigone - the Greek princess who b...)
The enduring story of Antigone - the Greek princess who braved the wrath of a king and sacrificed her own life in order to honor her slain brother - is retold here for contemporary readers. Through the words of the blind prophet Teiresias, we watch the inevitable tragedy unfold as Antigone discovers that her brother, a rebel against the rule of their uncle Creon, has been murdered and his body left unburied. Torn between duty to her uncle the king, love for her brother, and her duty to the gods, Antigone symbolizes the often tragic conflict between love and duty, honor and the law. This modern retelling of the story, best known through Sophocles' drama, is enhanced by original illustrations in the style of ancient Greek art silk-screened on handmade paper. Truly a unique and beautiful book, Sophocles' Antigone will be a treasured addition to the libraries of those who love the arts of ancient Greece and of fine, contemporary bookmaking.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0892366370/?tag=2022091-20
2001
(Two sisters live on the edge of a great rainforest. When ...)
Two sisters live on the edge of a great rainforest. When soldiers destroy the forest, the sisters must try to find a new way of life. But strange things are in store for them... Inspired by an old Indian folktale, this is a lyrical fable of metamorphosis and the connections between human beings and nature. The atmospheric art in this handsome book is set off against colored handmade inserts. The text is letter-pressed on tea-stained paper.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8186211322/?tag=2022091-20
2001
(Trash! is a unique combination of fiction and fact. Based...)
Trash! is a unique combination of fiction and fact. Based on the real-life experiences of street children in Chennai, it tells the story of Velu, a runaway village child. He ends up as a ragpicker in a big city and must face the harsh realities of life on the streets. The story is accompanied by facts and arguments that connect complex issues - ranging from child labor and child rights to lifestyles, waste, and recycling.
https://www.amazon.com/Trash-Ragpicker-Recycling-Gita-Wolf/dp/8186211691/?tag=2022091-20
2003
(Brahma, the creator, is unhappy with the world he has mad...)
Brahma, the creator, is unhappy with the world he has made from his own mind. It is perfect, and because it is so perfect, it lacks death. Brahma is soon bored with his sterile creation and sends Vishnu, the preserver, down into the new world to set it right. Vishnu takes the form of a fish and goes in search of the man who can help him create a new world where death has a place.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8186211772/?tag=2022091-20
2003
(Drawing on Indian mask-making and performance traditions,...)
Drawing on Indian mask-making and performance traditions, this book suggests how children (and educators working with children) can imaginatively engage with and adapt from different cultures. It contains practical instructions on mask-making and detailed suggestions on how to put up a performance — including notes on script-writing, direction, auditioning, stage management, costumes and make-up.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8186211470/?tag=2022091-20
2003
(Beasts of India takes a lens to the beast as it is imagin...)
Beasts of India takes a lens to the beast as it is imagined and rendered in folk and tribal art traditions across India. The fine art of the original drawings has been recreated through silk-screening each image by hand. Featuring over 30 original pieces, this astonishing bestiary is a book and art collector’s dream. An index of artists’ names and succinct descriptions of the art conventions make it a compact and lively introduction to the unheeded genres of Indian art.
https://www.amazon.com/Beasts-India-Gita-Wolf/dp/8186211780
2003
(Designed as a scroll, and silk-screened by hand on handma...)
Designed as a scroll, and silk-screened by hand on handmade paper, this is a cheerful adaptation of a traditional folk tale. Hen-sparrow falls into a vat of dye and turns quite purple. Her strange new color turns the entire kingdom upside down, but Hen-sparrow quite likes herself purple... Inspired by medieval Indian art and narrative traditions, this visual and tactile treat has a clever feminist twist. The form of the book and the cumulative rhyme re-create the age-old magical experience of storytelling with pictures.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8186211195/?tag=2022091-20
2004
(Do! is a set of action pictures rendered in the elegantly...)
Do! is a set of action pictures rendered in the elegantly minimalist Warli style of tribal art. It introduces basic verbs to the young reader through a series of delicately drawn pictograms, which both illustrate the verb and tell a further string of stories. Every page or pair of pages invites the child to explore a busy world and make up her own tales. The art conjures up a world teeming with human figures, animals, plants, and birds.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8190754610/?tag=2022091-20
2009
(Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's haunting yet bleak ...)
Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's haunting yet bleak tale, this simple and lyrical version of The Little Mermaid is faithful to - yet different from - the original. The ending in particular suggests both the sorrow that impends upon love and loss, as well as the possibilities of a life of freedom beyond the emotional struggle. The art by acclaimed Gond artist Bhajju Shyam is delicate, evocative, and magical, contrasting the worlds of land and ocean and the strange inner life of the mermaid and her sisters.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8190675605/?tag=2022091-20
2009
(I Like Cats emerges from the brushstrokes of the best-kno...)
I Like Cats emerges from the brushstrokes of the best-known tribal artists of India. Silkscreen-printed by hand, this book features a gallery of irresistible feline characters across a variety of Indian tribal art traditions. This is a book that will delight cat lovers, art lovers, and artsy cat lovers!
https://www.amazon.com/I-Like-Cats-Anushka-Ravishankar/dp/8190675613/?tag=2022091-20
2009
(Standing in for our deepest fantasies and fears, the snak...)
Standing in for our deepest fantasies and fears, the snake is as much a creature of our minds, as it is of the forest and field. Combining art and legend, this stunning handprinted book invokes the beauty and legend of Indian snake lore - from the enigmatic snake goddess Manasa to Buddha's sheltering snake. SSSS is part of a series of books inspired by pieces of the collections of the Muse du quai Branly in Paris.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9380340095/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(Adapted from renowned Gond artist Durga Bai's (The Old An...)
Adapted from renowned Gond artist Durga Bai's (The Old Animals' Forest Band; One, Two, Tree!) rendering of her own childhood in the central Indian village Patangahr, this is a merry tale of fun and rhyme. Bai's colorful and playful art captures a young girl's experience of growing up in a tribal village, and bridges the worlds of memory and imagination.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9380340060/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(Monkey lives in a jungle that tourists love to visit. But...)
Monkey lives in a jungle that tourists love to visit. But he’s getting tired of them taking pictures of him all the time — especially since he never gets to see the results! So he decides to help himself to a camera and swing around the jungle, surprising friends and foes...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8190754629/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(The first-ever compendium of the visually stunning Indian...)
The first-ever compendium of the visually stunning Indian Gond artists' patterns, along with brief notes on their meaning and history. The first-ever compendium of the visually stunning Indian Gond artists' patterns, along with brief notes on their meaning and history.
https://www.amazon.com/Signature-Patterns-Gond-Gita-Wolf/dp/9380340028/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(Following My Paint Brush is the story of Dulari Devi, a d...)
Following My Paint Brush is the story of Dulari Devi, a domestic helper who went on to become an artist in the Mithila style of folk painting from Bihar, eastern India. Dulari is from a community of fisherfolk whose occupation is river-fishing. Used to a life of hard and relentless labor, she discovered painting while working as a domestic helper in an artist's house. Dulari learned by doing, and very soon came to adapt artistic rules and conventions to her own expressive needs. Following My Paint Brush narrates Dulari's momentous journey from a worker who knew no rest to an artist who is willing to go where her imagination leads her. This is Dulari's first book.
https://www.amazon.com/Following-Paint-Brush-Gita-Wolf/dp/9380340117/?tag=2022091-20
2011
(In this Indian version of the Biblical tale, talented Ben...)
In this Indian version of the Biblical tale, talented Bengali Patua scroll painter Joydeb Chitrakar leads the reader from a deluge of water to a rainbow of hope. A book that can be leafed through in the traditional way or unfolded out as an accordion, the vibrant illustrations and concise text provide a singular approach to an ancient, universal story.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9380340184/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(One day Musa sets off from his village to collect firewoo...)
One day Musa sets off from his village to collect firewood. It is the first time he has ventured out alone. Suddenly he hears a loud noise and becomes very afraid. Was the sound a wild boar? A whole herd of wild boars? Or something even worse?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8192317153/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(Meet the most wily jackal in the forest. Too lazy to hunt...)
Meet the most wily jackal in the forest. Too lazy to hunt for food, he decides to trick his friend the crane, and soon gets carried away, gobbling up every animal he encounters. This lighthearted story, told in cumulative rhyme, is an adaptation of an oral trickster tale from Rajasthan, India. It is illustrated in finger paintings by the talented Sunita, a young woman artist from the Meena tribe. Sunita adapts her traditional art form, Mandna, traditionally painted by women on the walls and floors of their village homes.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8192317145/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(Each year, people of the Bhil tribe from Madhya Pradesh i...)
Each year, people of the Bhil tribe from Madhya Pradesh in central India celebrate a wonderful carnival called Bhagoria. Subhash Amaliyar, Bhil artist, paints the carnival in his traditional style. Collaborating with him are writer Gita Wolf, and designers Catriona Maciver and Oliver Mayes - who turn his joyous rendering of celebration into an interactive children’s book.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9383145110/?tag=2022091-20
2015
(India is home to a range of folk and tribal artists, from...)
India is home to a range of folk and tribal artists, from rich and varied cultural backgrounds. Much of what we learn about these communities - who often exist on the margins of mainstream society - is through their representation in a museum. It is a space that constructs identities in very particular ways. This pioneering dialogue with 38 extraordinary folk and tribal artists from across India focuses on the idea of a museum - particularly for communities historically regarded as anthropological subjects. In their visual responses, artists reflect on the museum as an institution, and the way it preserves, creates and disseminates knowledge. Do these representations communicate a lived life? What are the artists' own ways of remembering and passing on tradition? And finally: who has the power to put whom in a museum?
https://www.amazon.com/Between-Memory-Museum-Dialogue-Indigenous/dp/9383145293/?tag=2022091-20
2015
(The Bhil people of Central India are amongst the oldest i...)
The Bhil people of Central India are amongst the oldest indigenous communities in India. To them, the natural world - of trees, creatures that inhabit them, and the forest of which they are a part - is not "out there", but rather exists in a seamless relationship to their home and the everyday. Gangubai, Bhil artist, explores this relationship through her memories of food, work, festivals, illness, medicine, and much more. Her tales center around trees, and so each of her memories has a tree as its focus. Illustrated in vivid and cheerful colors, the paintings in this book foreground a universe of brightly colored dots, and lines and shapes that encompass and hold all living creatures, including human beings.
https://www.amazon.com/Tree-Matters-Gangu-Bai/dp/9383145234/?tag=2022091-20
2015
(More than ever in the past, now it is necessary to bring ...)
More than ever in the past, now it is necessary to bring in the possibility of free, unstructured, and open-ended play to children. We can create opportunities for other kinds of play - such as through the toys in this book, based on so-called folk toys, created by small-time artisans from all over India. A child who makes these toys needs to handle physical material intelligently - an important sense to restore in an increasingly virtual world. Along with step-by-step instructions on how to make a range of toys, the book also contains sections on the science behind some of them, tips, poems, jokes... and a thought-provoking section for adults to think through issues of toys and play in today’s world.
https://www.amazon.com/Toys-Play-Materials-Sudarshan-Khanna/dp/9383145579/?tag=2022091-20
2018
(People from the Rathwa tribe in Gujarat create a ritual w...)
People from the Rathwa tribe in Gujarat create a ritual wall painting as a way of worshipping their gods Pithora and Pithori, depicted as horses. The creation of Pithora paintings is considered a form of worship, to keep away ill-luck and invite good fortune. To paint is to mirror - and honour - all that has been created in the universe. This sophisticated conception of the transformative power of art has been rendered into a deceptively simple children’s tale by Rathwa artist Harsingh Hamir.
https://www.amazon.com/Painting-Everything-World-Gita-Wolf/dp/938314548X/?tag=2022091-20
2019
Gita Wolf was born on December 6, 1956, in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, India. She is a daughter of B. R. and Komala Sampath.
Gita Wolf holds a Master of Arts in English from the University of Erlangen (now Friedrich–Alexander University Erlangen–Nürnberg).
Since 1993 Gita Wolf has worked as a publisher for Tara Publishing. In her works for children, Wolf approaches traditional stories from a contemporary, woman-centered angle: her protagonists are usually young, resourceful girls who combat the odds to make positive changes in the world around them, giving her fiction what Books in Canada reviewer Marilyn Andrews calls a "gentle feminist thrust that empowers" her young characters.
Originally published in 1994 by the author’s own Tara Publishing House, Mala: A Women’s Folk Tale is the story of a young Indian girl who sets out to save her small village from a terrible drought that has destroyed their food supply. In The Very Hungry Lion, published in Canada in 1996, Wolf focuses her story on Singam, a sleepy king of the beasts who attempts to lure dinner into his mouth rather than having to get up and hunt for it. Unfortunately, each small animal that he attempts to coax between his teeth finds a clever way to outwit the lazy lion.
Gita Wolf is best known as the author of a dozen books for children and adults. Considered one of the most original and creative voices in contemporary Indian publishing, she has pursued her interest in exploring and experimenting with the form of the book and its status as a revered cultural object. Several of her children's books have won major international awards.
(Adapted from renowned Gond artist Durga Bai's (The Old An...)
2010(Drawing on Indian mask-making and performance traditions,...)
2003(The enduring story of Antigone - the Greek princess who b...)
2001(This unorthodox and enabling approach to art education he...)
1994(This unorthodox and enabling approach to art education he...)
1996(An extraordinary tale adapted from an Indian folktale des...)
1996(Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's haunting yet bleak ...)
2009(Following My Paint Brush is the story of Dulari Devi, a d...)
2011(In this Indian version of the Biblical tale, talented Ben...)
2013(Drawing on a variety of Indian puppet-making traditions, ...)
1998(People from the Rathwa tribe in Gujarat create a ritual w...)
2019(The first-ever compendium of the visually stunning Indian...)
2010(More than ever in the past, now it is necessary to bring ...)
2018(Standing in for our deepest fantasies and fears, the snak...)
2010(Designed as a scroll, and silk-screened by hand on handma...)
2004(Each year, people of the Bhil tribe from Madhya Pradesh i...)
2015(Beasts of India takes a lens to the beast as it is imagin...)
2003(Do! is a set of action pictures rendered in the elegantly...)
2009(India is home to a range of folk and tribal artists, from...)
2015(The Bhil people of Central India are amongst the oldest i...)
2015(I Like Cats emerges from the brushstrokes of the best-kno...)
2009(Brahma, the creator, is unhappy with the world he has mad...)
2003(One day Musa sets off from his village to collect firewoo...)
2013(Monkey lives in a jungle that tourists love to visit. But...)
2010(Trash! is a unique combination of fiction and fact. Based...)
2003(Two sisters live on the edge of a great rainforest. When ...)
2001(Meet the most wily jackal in the forest. Too lazy to hunt...)
2013
Quotations:
"The physical book will never die!"
"In Japan, the hand workers are immensely respected. The working community there is dignified. It is a very important thing to learn from the Japanese."
On March 12, 1978, Gita Sampath married Helmut Wolf, an alchemist. They have a son, Arun Eric Wolf.
