Tales from African Dreamtime

Retold by Magdalene Sacranie

From the wild plains of Sudan to a small village in Cameroon, over forty folk tales are brought to life by Magdalene Sacranie. These stories span many African traditions and are narrated in a lively, conversational style, with luminous illustrations by Scottish artist Sarah Bramley. Draw closer and open your heart to discover how Man lost his tail, how the Tortoise got his shell, and meet an assortment of colourful characters — from Little Bush Pig to Wicked Leopardess.

The woman behind this enchanting collection has a story just as captivating. Magdalene Sacranie grew up in South East London surrounded by books — her father published The Psychologist magazine for four decades. At 23, as a Physiotherapist with Voluntary Service Overseas, she joined a Lepra project in Blantyre, Malawi. It was, she says, “amazing and totally life changing.” It also brought her love. In Blantyre, she met Aziz, a member of the Malawi Subud group, and manager of the city’s only bookshop — which, by delightful coincidence, stocked her father’s magazine. They married in London in 1971. 

Magdalene and Aziz stayed deeply connected to Malawi, fundraising tirelessly and personally delivering gifts to partner schools on return visits. Then in 2006, an offhand remark from Aziz about the scarcity of authentic African wisdom tales lit a spark — and Tales from African Dreamtime was born.

As Alexander McCall Smith observed,

“Too often, the picture that we get of African countries is a bleak one, and we see little of the joy and humour which is so immediately and strikingly evident to any visitor.” 

This book is Magdalene’s answer to that — a joyful, warm, and deeply human collection of stories “locked deep in the listener’s heart.”

Ideal as read-aloud bedtime stories for children aged 7 and up — and by buying this book directly from Magdalene, you’ll also help Susila Dharma educational projects across the African continent.

The language services enterprise, E-Lango, and Sacranie are now in partnership to bring translations of Tales from African Dreamtime to new readers and listeners in France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.

Price: 12.99 GBP  + package and postage

13.99 Euro + package and postage

To order your copy, please send an email to:    sandra@e-lango.online