Sunjata (Penguin Classics)

Famous across West Africa from Guinea to the Gambia, through Mali and into Burkina Faso, the heroic exploits of Sunjata - based on events in the early thirteenth century - are still constantly being reinterpreted in many different media. Sunjata started life as a gluttonous and slow-witted child, but went on to become a celebrated warrior, who defeated the Susu overlords and founded the great Mali empire, which lasted two centuries. Equally crucial was the role of his sister Nene Faamaga, who seduced his archenemy Sumanguru into revealing the secret magical powers which made him invulnerable. These stories remain central to the culture of the Mande-speaking peoples.