Graphic novels, changing the way we read

NEW DELHI: The contemporary novel is changing shape in India. The latest entrant that is finding place on bookshelves is the 'graphic novel', which tells stories through illustrations and prose in a single format.

"Kari", a slim 116-page graphic novel that tells the story of Kari, a quiet Indian woman employed in an advertising agency, her inseparable friend Ruth and their life in Mumbai, hit the stands Friday. It has been written and illustrated by Delhi-based Amruta Patil, a first-time novelist.

Published by Harper Collins and priced at a modest Rs.295, it has opened a new chapter in contemporary English writing by Indian authors in the country.

The illustrations are a mix of black and white drawings and colour sketches. The text, in fancy calligraphy, is placed around and in-between the drawings. But there are also comic book-like blurbs thrown into the picture frames for a heightened effect.

"Novel has never been an easier medium. It is not really difficult to understand stories narrated with pictures, which is what a graphic novel is all about. Pictures are timeless, older than words and when laid out in a planned format with prose, it makes for an interesting medium," said writer-cartoonist Manjula Padmanabhan.

"Amruta's novel is special because she has chosen a difficult path as a first-timer - both of a writer and illustrator," she added.

Harper Collins has printed 4,000 copies of the book as part of the initial print run and hopes to sell a minimum 3,500 copies. All the promotional copies, nearly 50 of them, on display at the recently held World Book Fair were sold out, V.K. Karthika, editor-in-chief at Harper Collins, told IANS.

Though popular in the European publishing circuit, the graphic novel took time to take off in India because it has a niche readership despite the popularity of comic books.

Goa-based writer-designer Orijit Sen of the "The River of Stories" fame had dabbled in the medium in the 1990s. This was followed by artist-filmmaker Sarnath Banerjee, who wrote "Corridor" in 2004 and "The Barn Owl's Wondrous Capers" in 2007.

"But slow awareness was an impediment to the growth of the genre," said Karthika.

"I would rather call it a transit novel," said Mumbai-based textile designer Michelle D' Souza, who read "Kari" en route to work.

"The illustrations are beautiful and the theme is so pertinent to scores of singletons, especially women, who live in Indian metros."

The format targets young Indian readers hooked to television - for whom narratives make sense only when accompanied by bold graphic visuals.

It is a difficult format for a writer, who has to possess great artistic skills to coordinate the graphics with the text. But for author Amruta, armed with a master's degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, it wasn't too tough.

"It evolved from some illustrations that I posted on my website for my friends and Harper Collins liked it," she said.    

The writer said her childhood in Goa has a lot to do with her graphic story-telling format.

"I had a quiet childhood in coastal Goa. I wrote a lot of fairy-tale stuff and illustrated them, mostly for my own pleasure, as a child," said the author.

Amruta began her picture jottings around the time she was seven years old. "Initially, it was a lot about myself, my own life. And then along the way, I met more clever people, who had better repartees than me and I ingested them into my writing," she recalled.

The "tad-autobiographical" Kari grew as a character and travelled to Boston with Amruta.

And once back to India, the novel really took off. "I may be an illustrator, but writing has always been my first love. Illustrations are a kind of scaffolding to my words," she said.

She is now working on her next graphical novel - a mytho-historical epic that she describes as a "rather ambitious and longer venture", and a book called "1999".