Caribbean Folk Tales

Overview

Caribbean folk tales set alongside local reminiscences of 1950s migration from the Caribbean to Britain

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’.

Reviews

"If you enjoy folk tales and fables, this is the book for you" — Seattle Book Review

Author Biography

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.