Learn about the people and place sof Mali.

This catalogue introduces readers to Malian photographers Malick Sidibé and Seydou Keïta and others whose images visualize an influential form of post-colonial African identity.

It's Mali's sixth birthday and she's excited. As more and more guests arrive, so do more and more gifts. But when her presents start to push her guests out of the house, Mali has to learn an important life lesson about the things that matter most. Will she choose more presents or more family and friends? Read this delightful, beautiful book and find out! The book doesn't end when the story's over! Adults, keep reading for interactive activities to extend the lesson.

Seydou Keita was born in Bamako, Mali in 1921, then part of the colony of French Sudan and a bustling transportation hub on the route to Dakar. With a Kodak Brownie given to him by his uncle, Keita took up photography at the age of 14, going on to establish what would become Bamako's most successful portraiture enterprise of the 1950s and 60s. "Photographs, Bamako, Mali 1949-1970" draws on an expanded archive to offer over 400 portraits, mostly unpublished, from the height of the photographer's productivity in downtown Bamako. Providing lushly patterned backdrops and props that now serve to date distinct periods in his career, the artist often styled his subjects but also encouraged their active participation, hanging sample portraits around the studio as inspiration. Migratory youth, government officials, shop owners and Bamako's cultural elite all make appearances here, and while Keita's photographs served as both family record and cultural status symbol for the clients who commissioned them, these images have become a lasting visual record of Mali at that time. Seydou Keita's work made its first international appearance in 1991 and has been exhibited extensively across Europe, Japan and the United States.

An echo of war. A fractured alliance. A looming prophecy… The attack on Ballern caught more than the Skyborn unprepared. Mordair’s sinister agenda has been revealed, leaving countless shattered lives in its wake. He seeks a pact with the Children of the Dark Fire. One that will break the foundation of the alliance. Archibald and Lady Katherine have split their forces between Karn, Ballern, and the East, leaving them vulnerable to Mordair's ruthless strikes. Karn prepares to fight beside the Stormborn, leading Jacob and Alice to a nightmarish place known as the Dead Woods. There, the land itself is poisoned, making the air toxic to every creature who dares enter. Secrets lie hidden in an ancient control center, a glimmer of hope in the crushing darkness. But everything comes at a price. The forests will burn. The skies will darken. Amid it all, the Stormborn will rise.