Caribbean Folk Tales

Professional Storyteller Wendy Shearer has gathered together stories from many Caribbean islands and countries, drawing on oral history and written texts to bring these folk tales to life. Many stories are of West African origin, kept alive through rhythm and song. These tales and their languages were blended with European and East Indian folklore, with royalty, heroes and spirits exacting revenge. Alongside the stories are newly collected reminiscences of migration to Britain from Caribbean countries during the Windrush years. These first-hand accounts mirror the themes found in the folk tales with love and loss, magic and mystery, caution and justice.

Cric! Crac! Prepare to be enchanted by La Diablesse from Haiti, outsmarted by the trickster Anansi, or terrified by the shapeshifting Old Higue in Guyana.

Auteur

Wendy Shearer is a professional storyteller who tells African and Caribbean tales. Her storytelling has been heard at venues across the UK, including Shakespeare's Globe, The Royal Academy of Arts, The British Museum, Museum of London and Royal Festival Hall. The stories she tells are inspired by a childhood filled with Afro-Caribbean tales passed down by her Guyanese Grandmother. Her love for epic tales was harnessed during her first degree in Classical Studies at Surrey University. She lives in London.

Texte du rabat

Caribbean islands are rich in oral stories. Steeped in history where ancestors arrived as slaves, many stories are of West African origin. Carried to the islands with rhythm and song, stories were blended with European and East Indian folklore. Professional Storyteller Wendy Shearer has gathered together stories from many islands, with themes of magic and mystery, love and loss, tricksters and fools. Alongside the stories are reminiscences of migration from the Windrush generation - people who came from the Caribbean to Britain, shaping new stories to influence the old. Cric! Crac! Be enchanted by La Diablesse from Trinidad, outsmarted by the trickster Anansi, terrified by the shape-shifting Baccoo in Guyana and hunted by the Soucouyant from Dominica. Be inspired by the Jamaican story 'Jon Do-Good', which tells of the movement of people from Africa to the Caribbean; 'do good, do good, whatever you do, do good'.