Myth Bridge book page

THE MYTH BRIDGE

The Myth Bridge connects Bangladeshi and German folklore and mythology. A wild bus-ride adventure with some of the most notorious heroines of Bengal and the Black Forest.
 
The novel was written was  produced by HerStory Foundation and Goethe-Institut Bangladesh. 

A unique publication with the intention of reframing female main characters and bridging Bangladeshi and German lore. The book is based on a four-day role-play between Bangladeshi and German artists and writers playing as characters from their traditional folk lore.

Sayeef Mahmud playing the Goddess of the Sunderbans mangrove forest, Bon Bibi.

Kazi Istela Imam played the ancient, rhyming granny on the moon, Chader Buri.

Performance artist Akramul Momen played the blessed-cursed divine couple, Behula & Lokhindar.

Saad Z Hossain played the fearsome Goddess of plague, Bibi Ma.

Salzar Rahman played the cross-cultural trickster, The Fox.

Maki Shimizu played the long-haired and very pregnant Repunzel.

Mia Sophie Oberländer played the Goddess of work, Frau Prechta.

Malwine Stauss played Schneewitten popularly knownd as Snow White.

"Frau Perchta hated leaving work. It frustrated her to have to lose time 
to sleep, food, and body maintenance. Frau Perchta strongly disagreed
with whoever it was that said that if you love your job, you will never
work a day in your life. What is a life without work?"
"It all came to naught. 
The powers were like gossamer, ghostly effects hitting some other world.
Here in the maw of this cave, there was no force to them. Kumari flinched
back, even though Frau Perchta remained her natural size, and Snow White’s
charisma remained threadbare. Behula darted forward, swinging Lakhindar
like a club, her concern for Fox overriding her normal diffidence."

“What I particularly appreciated was the approach to storytelling. The book started out with a very specific premise but the stories that emerged were trying to retell traditional forms of storytelling,  particularly focusing on women’s empowerment, autonomy, and our perceptions of gender and subjectivity. The alternatives that they were providing were unique in terms of the context of the text. It came true in the readings as well.”

– Nazia Manzoor, Editor of Star Books & Literature