Brer Rabbit Retold - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9383145463 ISBN 13: 9789383145461

Publisher: Tara Books, 2017

Synopsis

The Brer Rabbit stories were originally oral tales told by slaves from the American South. In this powerful rendering for children and adults, writer and griot Arthur Flowers re-tells them as wisdom tales for a contemporary audience, bringing them back to us as one of the sturdy roots of African-American literature. This version also straddles storytelling forms–connecting the spoken and written word in surprising ways. The text is heir to the original oral stories, exquisitely illustrated by Jagdish Chitara, a ritual textile painter from Gujarat. Arthur Flowers then takes his stories back into the realm of the oral, with a musical spoken word performance in collaboration with a group of young Indian musicians. Printed and bound by hand, this limited edition artists’ book includes a music album and short film. This genre defying cross-media project pushes the boundaries of narrative art to a new level of accomplishment. With music cd and download code.

About this title

About the Authors

Arthur Flowers a Delta-based performance poet, who teaches MFA Fiction at the English Department of Syracuse University, US. A native of Memphis and co-founder of The New Renaissance Guild, he considers himself heir to the western written tradition as well as the African oral one. Author of novels and nonfictions, including Another Good Loving Blues and Mojo Rising: Confessions of a 21st Century Conjureman, this is his second book with Tara after I See The Promised Land.

Jagdish Chitara is a skilled folk artist from the nomadic Vaghari community, working in the Mata-Ni-Pachedi style of ritual textile painting from Gujarat, western India. He is based in Ahmedabad, and works in close collaboration with his family, who are also practising artists. He has participated in various government-run workshops and fairs within India. This is his third book, after The Great Race and The Cloth of the Mother Goddess.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Sometime tradition, you got to play with it a little, keep it fresh, ahead of the curve, poetic dispensation, shall we say. This next story about Brer Rabbit’s sister. I say she just as slick as the Rabbit, somefolk say she slicker. Ask anybody around these parts and they will tell you about Sistah Rabbit and the big wind. Wahoo How, back in the day, when the world was still young, all the little animals lived together in peace and harmony, until the day come there was a huge, long drought, and there was no more food and drinking water. Except over in The Clayton Field. In The Clayton Field, they got a tree heavy burdened with the most succulent fruits and vegetables, with peaches, mango, corn, watermelon and broccoli, everything grow on the Tree of Life, fully stocked in every season, with seeds that’s good for growing things. The Clayton Field also had a pool of pure, clean drinking water, enough for all the little animals in the forest, all their family and community needs. But The Clayton Field was claimed by Brer Tiger, and Brer Tiger was not inclined to share. Consequently, all the creatures of the forest was hungry and thirsty, poor little things, one by one just fading away. Finally, Sistah Rabbit call a meeting to order.

Edition details

• Publisher: Tara Books
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9383145463
• ISBN 13: 9789383145461
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Chitara Jagdish
• Number of pages: 72