I have never lived a life without magic. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting on my aunties’ laps as they regaled me with stories of the spider trickster Anansi and other folktales from our homeland of Ghana. The tales were as varied, some fables of animal icons while others sprawling epics for kings and queens, but one element that remained constant was the magic. It was a living, breathing part of the world, as real as your own face or name. And it always, always had a price. In the old stories, if you wanted something extraordinary done, you’d better be ready to pay an extraordinary cost for it—a cost that was rarely so simple as money.

Read More »