Aranyaka is about the great forests within us, and without. Braiding Vedic philosophy with the story of three spirited seekers, it explores the fears and hungers that underpin all human interactions.
Amruta Patil, is an Indian graphic novel author and painter.
Patil spent her childhood in Goa. She has a BFA from Goa College of Art (1999), and Master of Fine Arts degree from Tufts University, School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (2004).
She worked as a copywriter at Enterprise Nexus (Mumbai) in 1999-2000. She was the Co-founder, Editor of the quarterly magazine, 'Mindfields' (2007-2012). She was awarded TED Fellowship in 2009.
Her debut graphic novel, Kari, commissioned and published by VK Karthika at HarperCollins India, explored themes of sexuality, friendship and death; and heralded Patil as India's first female graphic novelist.
She was awarded the Ministry of Women and Child Development's Nari Shakti Puraskar in March 2017 at the hands of the 13th President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.
Aranyaka: Book of the Forest is a graphic novel that's a bit different. Reading it is like a walk in the woods – sometimes you're lost, sometimes amazed, but always thinking.
Patil's artwork and Pattanaik's knowledge of myths mix nature, women's issues, and big ideas into something slow, deep, and special. If you want a fast-paced story, this isn't it. But if you like books that make you stop and think, and that you can read again and again to find something new, it's perfect.
✔ Beautiful pictures ✔ Lots of old stories + nature stuff ✘ Can be a little hard to understand sometimes