Book Description

This volume of twenty folktales belongs to what may be referred to as "volumes of Igbo folktales in other languages by native or foreign speakers of the language." It is destined to all Igbo people in diaspora, those who were born and bred outside Igboland, especially those who are domiciled in the United Kingdom, in other European countries, and in the United States of America. It is also written for non-Igbo speaking people who are interested in the cultural and the oral heritage of the Igbo. The book will certainly help those who have never been to Igboland to acquire a better and clearer understanding of the Igbo. It will equally serve as a handy reference pack to help storytellers enliven their repertoire. Mr. Clifford N. Ugochukwu (Nwachinemelu) was born in Isu, Akabo-Ukwu, Uruagu, Nnewi, Anambra State of Nigeria, in 1936. He grew up in Igboland, immersed in Igbo culture. He later studied at the University of Ibadan, the University of Nigeria (Nsukka), the University of Grenoble (France) and the French Institute, London. His first book, Ebubedike na Igwekala, won the First Prize in the All Nigeria Igbo Writers' Contest organised by the Christian Council of Nigeria in 1963 and was published in 1965 by Daystar Press, Ibadan. He subsequently contributed to a second book, Omalinze: A Book of Igbo Folktales, as the principal author. This book, published by Oxford University Press, Ibadan (1977), is still used as a major textbook in universities and higher education in Nigeria. His latest book in English, Isu Factor in Nnewi History, published by Tabansi, Onitsha (2000), reveals the contribution of Nri Kingdom to Igbo history, culture and civilisation, and retraces Isu settlements across Igboland.