oral literature

The Arthurian legends the poem draws from, first passed down in the form of oral literature, have recurred throughout the past seven centuries in every conceivable medium: medieval chivalric romances, English Pre-Raphaelite painting, the poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot, a Kazuo Ishiguro novel, and a Sonic the Hedgehog video game.

The spine of my work is Anishinaabe storytelling practices and there is a big body of oral literature that I’m told and pass down, that’s also called complex and rigorous and intellectual.

Kofi Natambu of The Panopticon Review was given an editor award, and performance poet Amalia Leticia Ortiz was cited for contributions to oral literature.

Kofi Natambu of The Panopticon Review was given an editor award, and performance poet Amalia Leticia Ortiz was cited for contributions to oral literature.

Epic narratives, still circulating today, were passed down, including the “Sunjata,” a core poem of African oral literature that recounts the life of Mansa Musa’s ancestor Sundiata Keita, who founded the Mali empire.