Voyage to India in Angers with the works of Tara Books

From May to August, libraries will be on Indian time

The partner libraries of l’œil du monde have been asked to “adopt” a foreign publisher whose works’ common thread advocates cultural diversity and the pursuit of artistic sensitivity among young readers.

Angers has opted for Tara Books, an independent publishing house founded in 1994 by Gita Wolf in Chennai, South India. Tara Books publishes albums for both children and adults in English and Tamil. Working primarily with its own network of artists, Tara Books has a bookmaking workshop featuring 25 crafters behind the screenprinted books made entirely by hand.

Workshops, storytime sessions, exhibits

The making-of a fresco, book presentation, storytelling and an afternoon of “Bollywood” screenings. After a literally Indian summer showcasing the enigmatic labyrinth that typifies the country and its culture, the Angers Libraries will be continuing their show-and-tell having acquired 110 books in English from the Tara Books publishing house.

Nearly 2,300 children in Angers, from kindergarten up to junior high, have gotten to know Tara Books.

Five 4th-, 5th- and 6th-grade classes there took part in the workshops:
Artist Anne Morea initiated students to the technique of engraving, enabling them,
in turn, to give rise to pieces in true Tara Books style. Children’s literature librarians followed these workshops up with playful activities focusing on India. Leporellos, object books, book-theaters,… all these works were exhibited in the different districts and gathered during a big exhibition in the central Médiathèque Toussaint, allowing the valorization and the exchange around this appointment plebiscited by everyone. Since then, ambassadors – children, parents and teachers – have been working with the library to prepare the great Nantes event at LU! A red thread links them around exchanges, invitations to other meetings in the libraries as well as activities on a padlet: Angevine Ambassadors of l’œil du monde!