183pp., illus., paperback, Manyeka Arts Trust, Cape Town, 2023

ISBN: 9781776364770

A collection of ten traditional narratives set in the pre-colonial wilderness around the Okavango River and Namib Desert, originally told in the !xun San language and passed on by word of mouth from generation to generation.

A group of Angolan and Namibian !xun women storytellers told their traditional stories to Marlene Sullivan Winberg over a period of three decades, from 1994 onwards. She met Sue Hollingsworth in 2017, who then sent the stories to women storytellers around the world.

"Storytellers and story researchers Marlene Winberg and Sue Hollingsworth present ten stories told by !xun women displaced by war and marginalised by racial oppression in Southern Africa. They do so in the extremely respectful and effective framework of an innovative international storytelling project ... My experience in reading this book consisted of a massive sense of recognition, wonder and gratitude to all involved for bringing this gathering bag full of resources to us for use in our own lives." Dr Megan Biesele, Director Emerita, Kalahari People’s Fund. USA/Namibia.

"This book is a fascinating original publication that combines ancient and contemporary stories. A San healers experience with the underground two-headed snake, for example, sits alongside very personal experiences of persecution during the apartheid war in Southern Africa, with personal reflections on the traditional narratives from women storytellers around the world. This book is a valuable contribution towards contemporary gender discussions for all women." Sigrid Schmidt, folklorist and author

Marlene Sullivan Winberg has published several books, including My Eland's Heart (2002), San Stories (2004), Healing Hands (2006), The Storyteller (2009) and Annotations of Loss and Abundance (2011). For the past two decades she has served as South African Ambassador to The World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child. She lives in Cape Town, where she has a Narrative Arts Therapy practice for women and teenagers.

Storyteller Sue Hollingsworth is co-author of the book, The Storyteller's Way (2013) and has taught storytelling for 25 years. She was a founding member of the School for Storytelling in the UK and currently heads up the Centre for Biographical Storytelling.

THE GATHERING BAG, remembering the heroines of traditional San stories

: Hollingsworth (S.) & Winberg (M.) curators

Quantity