Old Animals' Forest Band - Rilegato

As well as being a good introduction to Indian tribal art, The Old Animals Forest Band would be excellent to read aloud and could even be adapted as a performance piece. It might also form the basis of discussions about friendship, old age and tolerance.’ (www.writeaway.org.uk)

An exciting voice in contemporary Indian writing, Sirish Rao has authored over eighteen books, ranging from novels to children's books, re-tellings of myths to pop art collections. HIs books have won international awards and have been translated into several languages. His writing reflects his interest in nature, mountaineering, travel, eccentric people and the oddities of language. Durga Bai is a young woman tribal artist from the Gond tradition of central India. Gond is a ritual and functional art style with distinctive decorative elements, mostly painted on walls of houses, using natural colours. Durga Bai constantly re-works and pushes the borders of the Gond art form to create art that sparkles with a distinctive energy.