Mythological Africans Podcast

The Mythological Africans AFRI Grant is still accepting applications from unpublished African writers aged 55 and over. AFRI fellows will receive up to $300 to review and retell 2-…

The Mythological Africans AFRI Grant is still accepting applications from unpublished African writers aged 55 and over. AFRI fellows will receive up to $300 to review and retell 2-…

We continue to enjoy the best of both food folklore and folklore in modern African literature with this week’s episode. We start with the rice harvest as depicted in Camara Laye’s…

Among the Tuareg and many people of the Sahelian region of Africa, tea is more than a beverage. It is a way of life. But how did this come to be, and what has it got to do with the…

This week, we continue our foray into Ibrahim al-Koni’s Al Majus or The Animists, this time visiting the Oasis of Waw, a legendary oasis from Tuareg folklore. Waw is a lost paradis…

In this week’s episode, we turn towards folkloric beliefs about the different ways people can percieve the world around them and what western models of mental health can learn from…

In this week’s episode, we witness the beautifully complex relationship between the sun and the Sahara desert as portrayed by celebrated Libyan author Ibrahim al-Koni in Al Majus (…

We start our May exploration of folklore in African literature with Jennifer Makumbi’s Kintu and a question: How deep does the connection between folklore and place go? Lwera is a…

Bashir Abbas was known for many things. He was a scholar, an engineer, an accountant, a father, a friend, a mentor and much more. But above all, he was a lover and composer of exqu…

In this episode, we take a camel-back trip across the Sahara and discover how the Tuareg have immortalized their most beloved animal companion in word and song. Tuareg camel names…

In this week’s episode, we visit with the Venda and Shona of southern Africa to talk about Ngano - folktales with a musical component. The musical samples used in this episode sho…

[Correction: In the previous version, when I talk about the Mvet from 17:01 - 17:10, I stated that the Mwindo Epic and the Epic of Lianja were the performed with the Mvet. That is…

We’re in the last week of Librivox Magic. If you don’t know what that is, well, all this month, we’ve been digging into the LibriVox archive of African folktales. This week, we’re…

We’re going back to Zanzibar! In today’s episode we’ll hear two stories from George Bateman’s “Zanzibar Tales Told by Natives of the East Coast of Africa” which was published in 1…

This week, we take it all the way back to Ancient Egypt which cannot be excluded from the cultural brilliance that has come from the African continent. Today’s story, “The Tale of…

For the month of February, we’ll be delving into what Librivox has to offer on African folklore. In this week’s episode, we’ll listen to three stories from the sky lore of differen…

We wrap up this month’s focus on folktales in modern African literature with Queen Pokou Concerto For A Sacrifice, Veronique Tadjo’s award winning retelling and analysis of the sto…

Hello friends, We are continuing our exploration of folklore in modern African literature and celebrating the one year anniversary of the publication of The Runaway Princess and O…

Hello friends! Welcome to the MA Podcast 2024 Edition! As I explained in the intro episode (which was an opportunity to vibe to the MA theme song composed by yours truly), we’ll sp…

Hello friends! 2024 is going to be an interesting year for MA because I am going in without a defined plan for what I want the year to look like. I spent most of 2023 working on wr…