PapaKali is the brainchild of Kali Kucera, an American artist, lorist, and entrepreneur.

Since he was 9 years old he has been composing plays, operas, short stories, and multi-disciplinary experiences. He has been both a teacher and performer as well as an arts mobilizer, and founded the Tacoma Poet Laureate competition in 2008.

After some time being a teller, Kali was concerned about the absence of both original and local lore, and no one seemed to be preserving the tradition of creating new narratives, tales, and myth about why the world around us is the way it is. He therefore devoted his energy to filling this void with PapaKali, beginning with tales of the South Sound and continuing with new tales emerging from the inspiration of the high Andes of South America, where Kali currently lives while also running a bus travel information service called AndesTransit (http://andestransit.com).

It is important to understand that in PapaKali lore, self-standing stories are often interconnected with other stories. Characters in one story will appear in a completely different context of another story, hence establishing a pantheon upon which lore can be constructed. The second important aspect is that the stories often change; they live and breathe as the influences of new narratives emerge to support the interconnectedness.

As a reader, therefore, we urge you to not read these like a book, but more like the oral tradition upon which they more appropriately relate. Check back on them to see how nuances have changed like you would listen to a story being told every year around a campfire.

PRESS

Kali Kucera’s Papakali tells the tales of Tacoma
How things came to be in T-Town

A Conversation with ‘Unawqi, Hunter of the Sun’ Kali Kucera

In the Spotlight: Unawqi: Hunter of the Sun by Kali Kucera

Tour Stop at the Bookworm Lodge

Book Promo at Mello & June – It’s a Book Thang!

Authors To Watch: Kali Kucera, author of ‘Unawqi, Hunter of the Sun’

From the TBR Pile with Kali Kucera

Guest Post on LRC: Why I Write Lore

The Story Behind Unawqi

Interview at Dark Phantom

Book Review at The Literary Nook

Book Tour Stop at Book Lover Sue