TALKING TO THE DIARY

At the Delhi launch of The Green Book: An Observer's Notebook, author Amitava Kumar discusses the significance of diaries, his artistic evolution, and the role of observation in his creative journey

- ADITHI REENA AJITH

US-based Indian author Amitava Kumar returns with The Green Book: An Observer's Notebook, the third in his series following The Blue Book and The Yellow Book. This work combines Kumar's writing, painting, and sketching into a personal yet universally resonant exploration of art and storytelling.

At the book launch at the India International Centre (IIC) in Delhi, Kumar read excerpts, sharing tales and notes from his travels. The book was launched by Udayan Mitra, executive publisher, HarperCollins India and Hemali Sodhi, founder of A Suitable Agency.

His observations, ranging from the oddity of Hindi writer Premchand's missing mouth and sharp moustache in a portrait in Varanasi to his admiration for authors' journals, highlight how the simplest moments can become captivating stories.

Through The Green Book, Kumar paints with words on observing the world, accompanied by his hand-drawn oil art.

Udayan Mitra, who heads the literary and non-fiction publishing divisions at HarperCollins, describes Kumar's books as an amalgamation of text and images. "Some of the greatest works of fiction or non-fiction began as jottings in writers' notebooks," he says. "Kumar's work, like The Yellow Book and The Blue Book, blends writing, paintings, and text that sometimes converse and sometimes stand independently."