#THROWBACKTHURSDAY | DRAWING THE LINE

Welcome to #ThrowbackThursday, a new series where we will revisit backlist titles one Thursday every month. This September, we’re looking at Drawing the Line: Indian Women Fight Back, edited by Larissa Bertonasco, Ludmilla Bartscht and Priya Kuriyan.

About the book

December 2012: Tens of thousands of people – women, men, families, young, old, rich, poor – come out onto the streets of towns and cities in India to protest the brutal gang rape and murder of a young medical student in Delhi.

Soon, a new law is put in place. More and more people start to report incidents of sexual assault. New conversations, new debates begin.

In this bold and brilliant collection of visual stories, fourteen young women respond to the activism and debates on the ground; they negotiate anger, fear, hope, resistance. Created in a week-long workshop, these stories talk to each other as they powerfully describe the fierce determination of the writers/artists to continue the battle for change.

About the editors

Larissa Bertonasco studied illustration in Hamburg, Germany, where she works as a freelance illustrator and artist. She is one of the founders of the Spring artistic collective and magazine.

Ludmilla Bartscht studied visual communication and illustration in Berlin, Lucerne and Hamburg. Her work has been shown in Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Spain, Austria and the USA. Along with Larissa Bertonasco, she is also part of the Springartistic collective and co-editor of Drawing the Line.

Priya Kuriyan is a children’s book illustrator, comic book artist and an animator. She has illustrated numerous children’s books – including Growing Up in Pandupur for Young Zubaan – for a variety of Indian publishers and currently lives in New Delhi.

Quotes from readers

With a variety of backgrounds, visual storytelling styles, and experiences of the world, the contributors to and editors of Drawing the Line truly fight back – with dignity and an appreciation for both individual voices and the wondrous cacophony of community. In so doing, this anthology combats easy narratives in favor of placing the power of storytelling and meaning-making in the hands of the many – and in the hopes that someday, we can all erase the lines we’ve drawn and finally savor napping in public. – Great Bear Comics

The graphic collection [Drawing The Line] is a rich reservoir of insight from today’s young women. […] All in all, Drawing the Line is a powerful journey of women finding their voices and of artists discovering their art. – Kanika Sharma, Hindustan Times