Ox-Tales
Encyclopedia
Ox-Tales refers to four anthologies of short stories written by 38 of the UK's best known authors. All the authors donated their stories to Oxfam. The books and stories are loosely based around the four elements (Earth, Fire, Air and Water)
The Ox-Tales books were published in partnership with Green Profile in order to raise revenue to fund Oxfam
's projects which fight poverty
around the world. 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 online store and 50p if the books are purchased through other retailers).
’s work:
Earth – land rights and farming
Air – combating climate change
Fire – campaigning for arms control
Water – safe water and sanitation
Each book contains a poem by Vikram Seth
and an afterword, written by Oxfam
, detailing their work in that area.
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 Carre
, Xiaolu Guo
, William Sutcliffe
, Ali Smith
, Lionel Shriver
, Jeanette Winterson
, Vikram Seth
) on 2 July 2009. They were originally published to mark the start of Oxfam's first annual book festival - 'Bookfest' (4-18 July 2009).
(NATE) is recommending 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."
NATE are reprinting Marina Lewycka
's story 'The Importance of Having Warm Feet' from the Ox-Tales: Earth collection in the autumn edition of their magazine, Classroom.
The Ox-Tales books were published in partnership with Green Profile in order to raise revenue to fund Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
's projects which fight poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
around the world. 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 online store and 50p if the books are purchased through other retailers).
Themes
The themes of the collections are intended to represent four aspects of OxfamOxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
’s work:
Earth – land rights and farming
Air – combating climate change
Fire – campaigning for arms control
Water – safe water and sanitation
Each book contains a poem by Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist.-Early life:Vikram Seth was born on 20 June 1952 to Leila and Prem Seth in Calcutta...
and an afterword, written by Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
, detailing their work in that area.
Authors
38 British and Irish based authors contributed to this project.Earth:
Rose Tremain
Rose Tremain
Rose Tremain CBE is an English author.-Life:Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on August 2, 1943 in London and attended Francis Holland School then Crofton Grange School from 1954 to 1961; the Sorbonne from 1961–1962; and graduated from the University of East Anglia in 1965 where she then...
, Jonathan Coe
Jonathan Coe
Jonathan Coe is an English novelist and writer. His work has an underlying preoccupation with political issues, although this serious engagement is often expressed comically in the form of satire. For example, What a Carve Up! reworks the plot of an old 1960s spoof horror film of the same name...
, Marti Leimbach
Marti Leimbach
Marti Leimbach is an American fiction writer. Her first novel, Dying Young , was an international bestseller and the basis of the film, Dying Young, starring Julia Roberts, Campbell Scott and Vincent D'Onofrio....
, Kate Atkinson
Kate Atkinson
Kate Atkinson MBE is an English author.She was born in York, and studied English Literature at the University of Dundee, gaining her Masters Degree in 1974. She subsequently studied for a doctorate in American Literature. She has often spoken publicly about the fact that she failed at the viva ...
, Ian Rankin
Ian Rankin
Ian Rankin, OBE, DL , is a Scottish crime writer. His best known books are the Inspector Rebus novels. He has also written several pieces of literary criticism.-Background:He attended Beath High School, Cowdenbeath...
, Marina Lewycka
Marina Lewycka
Marina Lewycka is a British novelist of Ukrainian origin, currently living in Sheffield, England.-Biography:Marina Lewycka was born in a refugee camp in Kiel, Germany after World War II. Her family subsequently moved to England where she now lives...
, Hanif Kureishi
Hanif Kureishi
Hanif Kureishi CBE is an English playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker, novelist and short story writer. The themes of his work have touched on topics of race, nationalism, immigration, and sexuality...
, Jonathan Buckley, Nicholas Shakespeare
Nicholas Shakespeare
Nicholas William Richmond Shakespeare is a British journalist and writer. Born to a diplomat, Shakespeare grew up in the Far East and in South America. He was educated at the Dragon School preparatory school then Winchester College and Cambridge and worked as a journalist for BBC television and...
, Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist.-Early life:Vikram Seth was born on 20 June 1952 to Leila and Prem Seth in Calcutta...
Air:
Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE, is a Rhodesian-born Scottish writer and Emeritus Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. In the late 20th century, McCall Smith became a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served on British and international committees...
, Helen Simpson
Helen Simpson (author)
Helen Simpson is an English novelist and short story writer. She was born in 1959 in Bristol, in the West of England, and went to a girls' school. She worked at Vogue for five years before her success in writing short stories meant she could afford to leave and concentrate full-time on her writing...
, DBC Pierre, AL Kennedy, Kamila Shamsie
Kamila Shamsie
Kamila Shamsie is a Pakistani novelist who writes in the English language. She was brought up in Karachi and attended Karachi Grammar School....
, Beryl Bainbridge
Beryl Bainbridge
Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge, DBE was an English author from Liverpool. She was primarily known for her psychological novels, often set amongst the English working classes. Bainbridge won the Whitbread Awards prize for best novel in 1977 and 1996; she was nominated five times for the Booker...
, Louise Welsh
Louise Welsh
Louise Welsh is an author of short stories and novels, based in Glasgow, Scotland.Welsh studied History at Glasgow University and traded in second-hand books for several years before publishing her first novel....
, Diran Adebayo
Diran Adebayo
Diran Adebayo is a British novelist, cultural critic and broadcaster best known for his vivid portrayals of modern London life and his distinctive use of language.-Education and career:...
, Helen Fielding
Helen Fielding
Helen Fielding is an English novelist and screenwriter, best known as the creator of the fictional character Bridget Jones, a sequence of novels and films that chronicle the life of a thirtysomething single woman in London as she tries to make sense of life and love.Her novels Bridget Jones's...
, Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist.-Early life:Vikram Seth was born on 20 June 1952 to Leila and Prem Seth in Calcutta...
Water:
Esther Freud
Esther Freud
Esther Freud is a British novelist.-Life and career:Born in London, Freud is the daughter of painter Lucian Freud and Bernadine Coverley and is a great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud. She travelled extensively with her mother as a child, and returned to London at the age of sixteen to train as an...
, David Park
David Park
David Park was a painter and a pioneer of the Bay Area Figurative School of painting during the 1950s.-Biography:...
, Hari Kunzru, Zoë Heller
Zoë Heller
Zoë Kate Hinde Heller is an English journalist and novelist.-Early life:Heller was born in North London as the youngest of four children of German-Jewish immigrant Lukas Heller, who was a successful screenwriter. Her mother was instrumental in keeping up the Labour Party's "Save London Transport...
, Michel Faber
Michel Faber
Michel Faber is a Dutch-born writer of fiction. He writes in English.Faber was born in The Hague, Netherlands. He and his parents emigrated to Australia in 1967...
, William Boyd
William Boyd (writer)
William Boyd, CBE is a Scottish novelist and screenwriter.-Biography:Of Scottish descent, Boyd spent his early life in Ghana and Nigeria, in Africa...
, Giles Foden
Giles Foden
Giles Foden is an English author best known for his award-winning novel The Last King of Scotland .-Biography:Giles Foden was born in Warwickshire in 1967. His family moved to Malawi in 1971 where he was raised...
, Joanna Trollope
Joanna Trollope
Joanna Trollope OBE , is an English novelist.-Life:Joanna Trollope was educated at Reigate County School for Girls followed by St Hugh's College, Oxford. From 1965 to 1967, she worked at the Foreign Office...
, Michael Morpurgo
Michael Morpurgo
Michael Morpurgo, OBE FKC AKC is an English author, poet, playwright and librettist, best known for his work in children's literature. He was the third Children's Laureate.-Early life:...
, Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist.-Early life:Vikram Seth was born on 20 June 1952 to Leila and Prem Seth in Calcutta...
Fire:
Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon is an English novelist and poet, best known for his 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.- Life and work :...
, Geoff Dyer
Geoff Dyer
Geoff Dyer is a British author and novelist. He is also a journalist who writes about a wide range of topics. His published work includes four novels and several books of non-fiction, which have won a number of literary awards...
, Victoria Hislop
Victoria Hislop
Victoria Hislop is an award winning British author.-Personal:Born in Bromley, she grew up in Tonbridge and attended Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls....
, Sebastian Faulks
Sebastian Faulks
-Early life:Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 in Donnington, Berkshire to Peter Faulks and Pamela . Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks, is his older brother. He was educated at Elstree School, Reading and went on to Wellington College, Berkshire...
,
John Le Carre
John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
, Xiaolu Guo
Xiaolu Guo
Xiaolu Guo born 1973) is a Chinese novelist and filmmaker, who uses film and literary language to explore themes of alienation, memory, personal journeys, daily tragedies and develops her own vision of China's past and its future in a global environment....
, William Sutcliffe
William Sutcliffe
William Sutcliffe is a British novelist.An alumnus of Haberdashers' Aske's School, Sutcliffe started his career with a novel about school life entitled New Boy , which was followed by his best-known work so far, Are You Experienced? , a pre-university gap year novel, in which a group of young...
, Ali Smith
Ali Smith
Ali Smith is a British writer.She was born to working-class parents, raised in a council house in Inverness and now lives in Cambridge. She studied at the University of Aberdeen and then at Newnham College, Cambridge, for a PhD that was never finished. She worked as a lecturer at University of...
, Lionel Shriver
Lionel Shriver
-Early life and education:Lionel Shriver was born Margaret Ann Shriver on May 18, 1957 in Gastonia, North Carolina, to a deeply religious family . At age 15, she changed her name from Margaret Ann to Lionel because she did not like the name she had been given, and as a tomboy felt that a...
, Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson OBE is a British novelist.-Early years:Winterson was born in Manchester and adopted on 21 January 1960. She was raised in Accrington, Lancashire, by Constance and John William Winterson...
, Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist.-Early life:Vikram Seth was born on 20 June 1952 to Leila and Prem Seth in Calcutta...
Publication details
Ox-Tales were published by Green Profile (a section of Profile BooksProfile Books
Profile Books is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1996 to publish stimulating non-fiction. It publishes across a wide range of subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current affairs, travel and popular science. It also publishes all The Economist Books.In 2003 it...
) on 2 July 2009. They were originally published to mark the start of Oxfam's first annual book festival - 'Bookfest' (4-18 July 2009).
Reception
Autumn 2009 - The National Association for the Teaching of EnglishNational Association for the Teaching of English
The National Association for the Teaching of English is the UK subject teacher association for all aspects of English from pre-school to university. NATE supports effective teaching and learning, keeps teachers informed about current developments and provides them with a voice at a national level....
(NATE) is recommending 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."
NATE are reprinting Marina Lewycka
Marina Lewycka
Marina Lewycka is a British novelist of Ukrainian origin, currently living in Sheffield, England.-Biography:Marina Lewycka was born in a refugee camp in Kiel, Germany after World War II. Her family subsequently moved to England where she now lives...
's story 'The Importance of Having Warm Feet' from the Ox-Tales: Earth collection in the autumn edition of their magazine, Classroom.