Patiala woman’s wordless, accordion book celebrating Indian rooftops wins top honour in London
Anantjeet, currently pursuing an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art, won the prize for her accordion book “Terrace Tales- A Celebration of Indian Rooftops”.
Anantjeet Kaur with her accordion book “Terrace Tales”. (Express Photos) Anantjeet Kaur, an illustrator and author from Patiala, Punjab, has won the prestigious Batsford Prize 2026 in the book illustration category, becoming the first Indian to receive this recognition.
The announcement was made recently at the Batsford Gallery in East London.
Anantjeet, currently pursuing an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art, won the prize for her accordion book “Terrace Tales- A Celebration of Indian Rooftops”. The work was described by the judges as a work that “captures the quiet rhythms of community life on the rooftop terraces of India”.
Traditionally, an accordion book refers to a book made from a continuous sheet of paper folded back and forth in a zigzag pattern just like an accordion musical instrument. Anantjeet’s book is on similar patterns with life on rooftops in Indian households described using illustrations via paper-folding.
Neil Dunnicliffe, founder of Spring Literary and Book Illustration judge at the prize, said: “‘Terrace Tales’ is a beautifully resolved piece of bookmaking, where form, process and theme come together seamlessly. Its unfolding, wordless narrative captures the quiet, everyday connections that shape communal life with warmth, clarity and originality”.
Vaughan Grylls, chair of judges, added: “The standard of entries this year was exceptionally high across all categories. This demonstrates how boundary-pushing, outward-looking and alive with human creativity visual arts in the UK remains”. More than 500 students from nine universities and colleges across the UK entered the prize this year, which celebrated the theme of connections across the categories of Fine Art, Applied Art and Textiles, Book Illustration, and Architecture.
Anantjeet has published eight illustrated books spanning inspiring stories for children, language learning and children’s biography. These works include “One Amazing Sikh at a Time”, a celebrated collection of 51 stories about remarkable Sikhs across history and disciplines written in collaboration with author Seerat Kaur Gill.
Her early-reader books “Tuhade Kol Kee Hai” and “Teg Singh da Pizza” have also found readership among diaspora families looking to connect their children with the Punjabi language and heritage.
Her aim is to build a body of work that speaks directly to children growing up here and in the diaspora. “I want to make inclusive books which are not just high quality, but also foster a joy of reading which is declining across the globe, but sadly even more in India,” she said.
“Children’s books in India have for too long been speaking down to children like they are a dumber version of adults when they’re far more perceptive. The reading experience between parents and children has perhaps never been more important to nurture with good books, as the world crumbles around us. Books have immense power to influence an individual, especially at a young age in a way video content does not — a child can set their own pace of reading, while in a video, visuals only hurtle toward them as they sit helplessly drinking it all in, good or bad,” she said.
An exhibition of shortlisted entries from the prize runs at the Batsford Gallery in East London until May 24.
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