Dear March, come in
How glad I am, I hoped for you before!
Hello Friends!
March has come. How glad I am that we get to share this month with each other! Wherever you are, I hope you are finding some peace and ease.
This is a special month for MA. As some of you may know, my book “The Watkins Book of African Folklore” (or The Mythological Africans Book ) comes out on March 11th. That’s in nine days. I’m really looking forward to sharing this particular project with you all as it is your work as much as it is mine! All 50 stories in the book are responses to questions or comments one or another of you have asked or made in the last couple of years of MA’s existence. That there are stories from North, South, East, West and Central Africa speaks to the diversity of MA’s audience and the interest you have shown. The section on creation myths and foundation legends wouldn’t exist without your curiosity about African accounts of the universe’s origins. The stories about human relationships and the cultural institutions they created speak to your interest in the lives we have lived and lessons we’ve learned. The section on animal tales is probably my favorite. You’ll just have to read it to find out why!
The Watkins Book of African Folklore is more than a folklore collection. I also intend for it to be a reference and bibliography. These stories came from specific sources. Many have transformed over time to their current version. Even more have parallels in folklore from elsewhere on the continent and across the world. Tracing their origins and documenting their transformations and highlighting some of their parallels is important. Curating MA has made me sensitive to historical and cultural context out of which folkloric themes and protagonists emerge so this is something the book pays attention to as well. There is something for everybody!
Everything about this book makes me happy, from the gloriously lush cover to the formatting and design. I’m truly grateful to the Watkins Publishing team for making it so beautiful!
So Pub Day is March 11 but, if you are in Atlanta or Dallas, I’d love to see you at a book talk.
If you can’t make it, Watkins Books is hosting an online event on March 13th.
Hope to see you there!
What to expect from MA in March
Let’s start with what you may have missed in February. On the Watkins Publishing blog for African History Month, I wrote about the folklore collections written by many African statesmen of the independence era.
There’s a lot to be said about African politicians but this is my favorite bit of lore about them. Do check it out!
Now March.
On the MA Podcast, we’ll stay with our discussion about folklore and nature, continuing on the path we started on in February. So far, we’ve learned a few proverbs which express some African people’s relationship with the land, and wandered into the continent’s forests to encounter some of its real and folkloric denizens. We’ll continue meandering our way through the forest and eventually venture out into the savanna, this time meeting specific plants, each with a story to tell about African people.
We’ll also have the first installment of the MA Quarterly Essay. For this, we’ll examine what we are remembering or forgetting from what African trickster tales communicate about the relationship between individuals, communities and authority figures, especially in the context of who gets access to resources. If you spend any time at all on the African corner of social media these days, you’ll want to read this one!
Thank you, as always, for your time and support, and cheers to the new month!
Be well,
Helen