Wise As
Independent Publishing
Stories. Lifestyle. Art.
Enrich the Human Experience
Wise As Stories is an independent publishing house founded by author, Reeta Dhar and artist, Darren Pryce. Stories, travel, food and art have enriched our human experience of life. Join us, as we explore, learn and contribute towards the rich histories, traditions and wisdom of these pursuits.
Stories
Stories we grow up with, matter.
The stories we are told, listen to and read in our formative years leave indelible impressions on our mind, influencing our ambitions and desires, hopes and dreams.
Reflecting on the stories we grew up with, we realised how few referenced any wisdom on life and living. Indeed, most stories led us astray ...
We've set out to create a different set of stories for children: Beautiful stories that plant seeds of wisdom and knowledge. Our hope is that these seeds blossom with time and help our young readers navigate life.
These are stories we wish, we'd grown up with.
Lifestyle
Celebrate Our Human Culture.
Human history tells a story of travel. For some, it was a matter of survival and for others, quests of exploration and discovery.
Nature's many bounties sustained our ancient ancestors on their epic journeys, shaping not only unique diets but also distinct cultures.
Travel and food remain the best ways to experience the richness of our diverse cultures. It reveals not only our shared humanity but also teaches us to relish our differences.
Reeta shares her guides to travel and food in two brand new magazines. Inspired by her travel and culinary adventures, it is a joyful celebration of our human culture.
Art
Art thrives with innovation.
We draw before we write, we sing before we speak, we dance before we walk: Art is central to human expression.
Every generation has produced artists who have sought to push the boundaries of what is possible in art. Their works have sometimes scandalised us, even infuriated us, but with time, always moved us.
Is it still possible, in this day and age, to do something new in the Visual Arts?
Darren has spent the past decade creating new experimental works, using traditional and new media to create unique expressions.
It is our pleasure to exhibit these unique works to the public for the first time here.
Meet the Founders
Author & Artist
Crafting Our Creative Destiny
Reeta Dhar
Author
Managing Director
Reeta grew up surrounded by stories; tales from the olden days her grannies used to tell, scary stories that her siblings would share, legends about ancient yogis her dad read aloud, Bollywood films her mum rented and stories from all the glorious books she read.
Stories became her doorway into a world of imagination that enthralled, enticed and enchanted in equal measure. They inspired her to just pack up her bags and go travel, hike, do yoga, meditate and seek out the magic in life.
In 2020, she finally found the time and space to put pen to paper and start writing her own stories.
Prior to this, Reeta had an accomplished career in business, working predominantly in the domain of strategy, technology, banking and finance. She draws upon her business experience to steer the strategic direction of Wise As Stories.
Darren Pryce
Artist
Creative Director
Darren started drawing before he started walking, or so the story goes. He was the quiet one in the family who spent all his time drawing at the kitchen table; his uncle was surprised to find out that he even had legs!
It was no surprise however that he pursued studies in design and a career as an illustrator, art director and contemporary artist. A classically trained painter with expertise in digital media, Darren seamlessly combines the two disciplines in his craft.
Darren has won many major national and international illustration awards, including Gold at the Melbourne Art Directors Awards and London International Award. Darren is a versatile illustrator and many different styles of his work have been featured in the Communication Arts Magazine, American Illustration Annuals and Leuzers Archive. His career highlights include doing the cover of Time Magazine and Los Angeles Times Magazine.
Darren draws upon his experience and love of the fine arts to steer the creative direction of Wise As Stories.
Our Story
When the once in a generation COVID pandemic took hold in 2020, it clipped our wings and brought us together. Homebound, we found ourselves reflecting on how we wanted to use this time and discovered a shared dream.
For some years, we had felt a yearning in our hearts to create a children's book that we wish we'd read growing up - a beautiful book that would impart timeless wisdom on life and living. And so, we began to work on Willow the Wonderer while researching the book world to understand how we were ever going to get it published.
It soon dawned on us that to give our book the best chance of finding its readers, we would need to establish our own independent publishing platform. Four years on, this decision has proved providential.
Thousands of Willow the Wonderer books have now found their way to readers - young and old - right across Australia.Wise As Stories has not only enabled us to independently publish, distribute and retail our works but has also become a place where we can build community and ultimately, craft our own creative destiny.
In 2025, we are excited to embark on another new chapter as we expand from stories into travel, food and art - other wonderful aspects of our human culture that enriches our experience of life.
It is our absolute pleasure and privilege to welcome you to explore our works.
Reeta and Darren
“ In the end, we'll all become stories. ”