African Folktales

Stories travel. They cross generations, languages, borders, and forms, changing in the telling while carrying something of where they began.

The African Folktales series brings together stories from the continent’s many oral traditions for readers today. Each volume is rooted in a particular storytelling tradition, community, language, or region, preserving the character of the tales while presenting them in editions made to be read, shared, and passed on.

From Hausa tales to the adventures of Mbe the Tortoise, the series reflects the breadth of African storytelling rather than treating the continent as a single tradition. As the series grows, it will gather stories from different parts of Africa and introduce new generations of readers to the wit, imagination, wonder, and knowledge carried through them.

African Folktales is one of three editorial programs at Iska Press, alongside Works in Translation and the New African Library imprint. Each carries its own editorial identity within a single, consistent house style.

Every title in the series also appears in the Catalogue, where the Folktales filter gathers them, and on the Authors page.