adminAuxilia Katongomara Entertainment Reporter
THE Intwasa Festival KoBulawayo has published folklore anthology as way of preserving and documenting the folktales for future generations.
The art of storytelling is facing a threat of extinction in most communities.
Edited by veteran writers Raisedon Baya and Christopher Mlalazi, the anthology aptly titled Around the Fire: Folktales from Zimbabwe, is a collection of 15 stories from different communities.
Baya said the anthology was published after realising the need to preserve tradition.
“The project included research and collection of stories from different communities, the objective is to preserve our tradition of story telling and therefore we decided to put pen to paper and come up with this publication.
“The coming of the anthology is part of bringing to the fore the art of story telling and to resuscitate the telling of folklore in our communities,” he said.
The anthology delves into the rich tapestry of diverse themes such as wisdom, justice, greed, diplomacy, myths and song.
Baya said there are plans to download the stories on the festival website and preserve them in other forms as folklore has been neglected by most communities.
“Though very rich and critical to our cultural identity and perhaps survival, folklore has always been neglected by most communities especially in modern times.
What most communities have done is to treat it like an overused piece of clothing that needs immediate discarding”.
The festival director said the folklore collection is suitable for both children and young people.
“This anthology is a must have for those who believe in the rich cultural diversity of our culture because the settings of the stories are easy to identify with and the characters are recognisable.
It will certainly give readers a strong and joyous sense of belonging,” he said.
The anthology is the second publication under the Intwasa Festival, after Intwasa Poetry published a few years ago.
Some of the stories to look forward in the book are Bekezela Dube’s Hare Meets his Match, Sibongile Mkandla’s The Chief’s Son, Hyenas Dont Climb Trees by Nelson Mapako and Thabani H Moyo’s How Mbijana Lost Her Leg.
Baya added that there are plans to publish short stories that won the Yvonne Vera award last year as part of the festival’s 10th anniversary celebrations.
Online Reporter