African Tales: A Barefoot Collection

by Gcina Mhlophe, Gcina Mhlophe

This anthology includes eight traditional tales from all over Africa. Sumptuous hand-sewn collage artwork decorated with African beads adorns these unforgettable tales of bravery, wisdom, wit and heroic deeds

96 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2017

About the author

Born in Hammarsdale, KwaZulu-Natal in 1960, Gcina Mhlope now lives in Johannesburg. Gcina Mhlope has been writing and performing on stage and screen for over 20 years. She has written many children's books as well as adult audience poetry, short stories and plays. She produced and performed on a CD for children with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. She has written music for the SABCTV series Gcina & Friends where she performed her own stories for television audiences.

In 2000 she released an award-winning storytelling CD called Fudukazi's Magic for German audiences. She has also written both story and music in collaboration with guitarist, Bheki Khoza, for the Animated Tales of the World TV series. In 2001 her CD and book of Nozincwadi Mother of Books was produced as part of her nationwide reading road show to South African rural schools. Her work has received awards from BBC Africa Service for Radio Drama, The Fringe First Award in the Edinburgh Festival, the Josef Jefferson Award in Chicago, and OBBIE in New York.

Gcina Mhlophe has received Honorary Doctorates from the London Open University as well as the University of Natal. This year sees the publication of her book and CD, African Mother Christmas by Maskew Miller Longman, as well as the re-publication of Love Child (now in English), and Have You Seen Zandile by University of Natal Press. Her work has contributed to preserving storytelling as a means of keeping history alive and has encouraged South African children to read.

Reviews

[Lana Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked Gcina Mhlophe & Rachel Griffin's, "African Tales: A Barefoot Collection." It's possible I liked it because it is the type of children's book I write, storytelling, families and colorful illustrations. I think it is a picture book for children, although it could possibly be YA. The author Gcina, doesn't say. Gcina Mhlophe does state that "Africa has a strong storytelling tradition." It is possible that because these stories are told "word of mouth" over centuries, that the collection is called a barefoot collection. There are different stories from different parts of the continent of Africa; the countries of Namibia, Senegal, Ethiopia to mention a few. My favorite story, in the collection is the story from Senegal, "Sea Wind." In "Sea Wind" the wind is personified characters. "African Tales: A Barefoot Collection 2017", is a read me again book, which in addition to taking you all across the second largest continent in the world (I saw the different countries on the map in my mind as I read) it also gives you a look at the people through their oral traditions. This tradition teaches and answers questions about the world. I use this form when writing. A recurring phrase that I really liked was at the end of each story, "Cosi cosi iyaphela," (Here I rest my story), which comes from the Zulu tradition.