Brer Rabbit Retold

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.

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.