Sarnath Banerjee (born 1972) is an Indian

graphic novelist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

, artist, filmmaker and co-founder of the comics publishing house, Phantomville.

Biography

Banerjee was born in Calcutta and lives and works in Delhi, India. He studied image and communication at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His first novel, '' Corridor'' (2004), published by Penguin Books, India, was commissioned as a part of a fellowship awarded by the MacArthur Foundation, Chicago and marketed as India's first graphic novel. However, ''

River of Stories ''River of Stories'' is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Indian artist Orijit Sen Orijit Sen (born 1963) is an Indian graphic artist and designer. His graphic novel River of Stories, published in 1994 by Kalpavriksh, is considere ...

'', a graphic novel by Orijit Sen published in 1994, actually holds this honor. His second novel, ''

The Barn Owl's Wondrous Capers ''The Barn Owl's Wondrous Capers'' is a 2007 graphic novel by Indian graphic artist Sarnath Banerjee. It is the author's second graphic novel after ''Corridor'', which has been widely advertised as the first Indian graphic novel. Plot summary ...

'', was published in 2007. Sarnath has also provided illustrations for novels by other authors. He designed the cover for

Upamanyu Chatterjee Upamanyu Chatterjee (born 1959) is an author and a retired Indian civil servant. His works include the novel '' English, August: An Indian story'', '' The Last Burden'', '' The Mammaries of the Welfare State'' and ''Weight Loss''. In 2008, he was ...

's novel, '' Weight Loss''.

Gallery of Losers

Sarnath's project, the Gallery of losers, was on display on billboards across the six Olympic Host Boroughs in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

. According to him, he came across the idea in São Paulo, Brazil, where he met 1984 Olympics silver medalist Douglas Vierra who almost won the judo gold that year. The Frieze Foundation has said that the work "taps into a collective consciousness of sporting near misses - the people who almost made it - and aims to resonate with both local communities and visitors to the London games".

Themes

Sarnath's graphic works often center on everyday Indian experiences. Often anecdotal and autobiographical in nature, they are imbued with a rich, distinctive sense of humor. Banerjee describes himself as a recorder of a rapidly changing India. A theme that runs strongly in his work is the loss of architecture and history that comes with a developing country's reach for modernisation.

Bibliography

Graphic novels

*'' Corridor'' (Penguin Books, 2004) *''

'' (Penguin Books, 2007, ) *'' The Harappa Files'' (HarperCollins, 2011, , ) *'' All Quiet In Vikaspuri'' (HarperCollins, 2016, , ) * Doab Dil (Penguin Books, 2019)

References

External links

Penguin Books page on Sarnath BanerjeeDVD with "Bengali Tourist" by Sarnath Banerjee

Biography
from the Berlin International Literature Festival

Interviews

New Images and Interview on SacredMediaCow
'' The Sunday Times'', 17 January 2010
"The medium of comics allows you to have variable point of views playing around in a single space"
In conversation with Sarnath Banerjee on GraphicShelf {{DEFAULTSORT:Banerjee, Sarnath 1972 births Living people Indian graphic novelists Indian male novelists Writers from Kolkata 21st-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian male writers Novelists from West Bengal