Lumbung Stories

Tequio in Mexico, auzolan in Basque Country, lumbung in Indonesia, ubuntu in South Africa, mutirão in Brazil – all terms used around the world to describe the concept of collective work. Bringing together 8 publishing houses and 7 writers, each writing in a different language, Lumbung Stories is a true product of communal action. From speculative essays and experimental texts to intimate stories that portray collective work as something every day and habitual, each writer presents their unique take on what a 'lumbung story' is. These tales take us from olive groves in Andalusia to tiger-filled forests in Indonesia; from youths fumbling through adolescence together in the Basque country, to outsiders uniting through vibrant rituals in São Paulo, and from explorations of intergenerational and transhistorical struggle in South Africa, to an academic text from a society rebuilding in a post-Capitalist, post-climate-crisis future. Blurring the lines between realism and fiction, the past and the future, this unique and powerful collection brims with life and is a vital reminder of the ties that unite us all.