Ox-Tales refers to four anthologies of short stories written by 38 of the UK's best-known authors. All donated their stories to Oxfam. The books and stories are loosely based on the four elements: Earth, Fire, Air and Water.
The Ox-Tales books were published in partnership with Green Profile[1][2] to raise revenue for Oxfam projects tackling poverty around the world.[3] Oxfam receives a percentage of the cover price of each book sold (£3.50 per book if bought directly from an Oxfam shop or Oxfam's website[4] and 50p if the books are purchased through other retailers).
Themes
editThe themes of the collections are intended to represent four aspects of Oxfam's work:
- Earth — land rights and farming[5]
- Air — combating climate change[6]
- Fire — campaigning for arms control[7]
- Water — safe water and sanitation[8]
Each book contains a poem by Vikram Seth and an afterword written by Oxfam, detailing their work in that area.
Authors
edit38 British and Irish based authors contributed to this project.
- Earth: Rose Tremain, Jonathan Coe, Marti Leimbach, Kate Atkinson, Ian Rankin, Marina Lewycka, Hanif Kureishi, Jonathan Buckley, Nicholas Shakespeare, Vikram Seth.
- Air: Alexander McCall Smith, Helen Simpson, DBC Pierre, AL Kennedy, Kamila Shamsie, Beryl Bainbridge, Louise Welsh, Diran Adebayo, Helen Fielding, Vikram Seth.
- Water: Esther Freud, David Park, Hari Kunzru, Zoë Heller, Michel Faber, William Boyd, Giles Foden, Joanna Trollope, Michael Morpurgo, Vikram Seth.
- Fire: Mark Haddon, Geoff Dyer, Victoria Hislop, Sebastian Faulks, John Le Carré, Xiaolu Guo, William Sutcliffe, Ali Smith, Lionel Shriver, Jeanette Winterson, Vikram Seth.
Publication details
editOx-Tales were published by Green Profile[2] (a section of Profile Books[9]) on 2 July 2009. They were originally published to mark the start of Oxfam's first annual book festival - "Bookfest"[10] (4–18 July 2009).
Reception
editIn Autumn 2009, the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) recommended Ox-Tales to its readers as "enjoyable, thought-provoking reading for you and also for older students — well worth a place in the secondary school stock cupboard for KS4 of KS5."[11]
NATE reprinted Marina Lewycka's story "The Importance of Having Warm Feet" from the Ox-Tales: Earth collection in the October 2009 edition of their magazine, Classroom.[11][12]
References
edit- ^ "Green Books Campaign: Ox-Tales Earth" Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Iris on Books, 10 November 2010.
- ^ a b "Green Profile". Archived from the original on 17 May 2009.
- ^ "Oxfam GB | leading UK charity fighting global poverty". Oxfam GB. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ^ "Oxfam's Online Store". Archived from the original on 6 April 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
- ^ "Oxfam GB: Land Rights in Africa". Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ^ "Oxfam GB | Climate Action". Oxfam GB. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
- ^ "Oxfam GB | Campaign with us". Oxfam GB. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
- ^ "Oxfam GB | Emergencies". Oxfam GB. Archived from the original on 30 September 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
- ^ "Stimulating non-fiction from one of the UK's top independent publishers - Profile Books". profilebooks.com. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ^ "Oxfam GB: Bookfest". Archived from the original on 10 July 2009. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ^ a b "Oxfam GB | Oxfam blog". Oxfam GB. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
- ^ Classroom magazine Archived 7 October 2024 at the Wayback Machine, Issue #9, October 2009.
External links
edit- William Skidelsky, "Charity aids the art of storytelling", The Guardian, 14 June 2009.
- The Times Online review[dead link]
- Boyd Tonkin, "Boyd Tonkin: A feast of stories for a planet in want", The Independent, 3 July 2009.
- Katy Guest, "Ox-Tales: Earth, Air, Fire and Water, various authors" (review), Independent on Sunday, 5 July 2009.
- Sam Leith, "Telling tales" (review), The Spectator, 1 July 2009.