DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

Not the Tales You Were Told

Once upon a time, Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories—fantastical yarns of wondrous creatures in faraway places—bewitched children across the world. But times change. Today, Kipling’s writing tells us a different tale; of a love of Empire, and the troubling legacy of British colonialism.

In Not So Stories, writers of colour from around the world reclaim these stories and remake them into something new. Something different. Something that belongs to us all.

Including stories by Adiwijaya Iskandar, Joseph Elliott-Coleman, Raymond Gates, Stewart Hotston, Zina Hutton, Georgina Kamsika, Cassandra Khaw, Paul Krueger, Tauriq Moosa, Jeannette Ng, Ali Nouraei, Wayne Santos, Zedeck Siew and Achala Upendran, with illustrations by Woodrow Phoenix and a foreword by Nikesh Shukla.

"There is a lot to enjoy here. A book whose time has come..." -- Suroor Alikhan * Talking About Books *
"For any adult who was charmed by Kipling as a child." * Starburst Magazine *
"Whether you love or can't stand Kipling, this is a terrific book." * The B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog *
“Funny, touching, and often profound.” * Tor.com *
“Fantastical fables about why things are the way they are, like Just So Stories… but without all the British Colonialism.” -- Alex Wells, Bookriot -- Alex Wells * Book Riot *

ISBN: 9781781087800

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 28mm

Weight: 254g

368 pages

2nd edition