Myths series

Reading a post in one of the forums I frequent I came to the realization that not everyone knows about Canongate's wonderful Myth series.

The brainchild of Canongate's Jamie Byng, the series was launched in October 2005 and hailed as "the most ambitious simultaneous world-wide publication ever undertaken". Thirty-seven international publishing houses are now involved.

Basically well-known contemporary authors have been invited to write their own versions of classical myths. While many of the titles currently available focus on Greek mythology, the series is by no means restricted to that arena and I expect that we'll be seeing many more non-Western myths as the series progresses.

This is one of the most exciting literary projects in recent memory so if you've never heard of this series, you have to check it out!

Here is a list of titles currently available:

• A Short History Of Myth by Karen Armstrong


• The Penelopiad: the Myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood


• Weight: the Myth of Atlas and Heracles by Jeanette Winterson


• The Helmet Of Horror: the Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur by Victor Pelevin


• Lion's Honey: the Myth of Samson by David Grossman


• Dream Angus: the Celtic God of Dreams by Alexander McCall Smith

Apparently Su Tong has also penned an installment, Binu: The myth of Meng Jiangnu, which has yet to be translated.

Some of the other authors we'll be seeing Myths titles from are Chinua Achebe, A.S. Byatt, David Grossman, Milton Hatoum, and Donna Tartt.