Book Reading and The Detective Novel
Book Reading
Martin Egblewogbe read from his short story anthology, Mr. Happy and the Hammer of God at the Niagara Plus Hotel on July 28, 2010. This book reading was organised by the Writers Project of Ghana.
Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery
I have read numerous detective novels but none of them was authored by an African. Most novels by Africans either dwell on the past or complain of the present. Crime as it is known in novels is a 'no-go' area for most of us. This might be because of the humanity of our spirits and the attachment we have towards the spirits that we fail to see that it occurs, that it has become part of the present Africa and Ghana.
But Kwei Quartey has not forgotten. He writes about it and he doesn't just gloss over it in his writings but it is the subject of his writings. This Physician cum Writer has created the Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery. The title of his first novel in this series was titled Wife of the Gods. Currently he is working on his second novel in this series titled Children of the Street, which would be released in 2011.
Dr. Kwei Quartey was born in Ghana and raised by an African American mother and a Ghanaian father. Even though his professional writing career began after he became a Physician, his desire to be a writer started at a very early age.
So if you are the mystery novel aficionado please just check him out, you may never let go.
Martin Egblewogbe read from his short story anthology, Mr. Happy and the Hammer of God at the Niagara Plus Hotel on July 28, 2010. This book reading was organised by the Writers Project of Ghana.
Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery
I have read numerous detective novels but none of them was authored by an African. Most novels by Africans either dwell on the past or complain of the present. Crime as it is known in novels is a 'no-go' area for most of us. This might be because of the humanity of our spirits and the attachment we have towards the spirits that we fail to see that it occurs, that it has become part of the present Africa and Ghana.But Kwei Quartey has not forgotten. He writes about it and he doesn't just gloss over it in his writings but it is the subject of his writings. This Physician cum Writer has created the Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery. The title of his first novel in this series was titled Wife of the Gods. Currently he is working on his second novel in this series titled Children of the Street, which would be released in 2011.
Dr. Kwei Quartey was born in Ghana and raised by an African American mother and a Ghanaian father. Even though his professional writing career began after he became a Physician, his desire to be a writer started at a very early age.
So if you are the mystery novel aficionado please just check him out, you may never let go.
Glad to see you mentioning Kwei Quartey's book, which hardly anyone here in Ghana has heard of. I think I knew about it because of a recommendation from my sister in the US, and I ended up reading a borrowed copy from an expatriate friend. I did see a few copies in one Accra bookshop, but otherwise nothing. And even when he was in Ghana earlier this year, there were no readings or other events. Kind of a shame really. It would have been great to talk about a Ghanaian detective story.
ReplyDeleteI saw a trailer on youtube and look forward to reading this soon. I agree that crime and other genre romance in Africa are not given much prominence. I think things will change soon.
ReplyDelete@Accrabookandthings: Yeah. I believe our bookshops are doing nothing other than selling books. I hate it. I have always worried about this and it is my dream to open a bookshop by authors for authors and literary critics.
ReplyDeleteI must say that I have not seen a copy of this book myself. Do you know of any bookshop aside Silverbirds lifestyle and Legon bookshop? please let me know.
I am always happy to meet authors and talk about their books and what inspires them to write and the reasoning behind their works.
@Myne: Yes and I know you are doing your best. Hope others do theirs... lol.
ReplyDeleteNice entry, Nana! Keep the fire burning!
ReplyDeleteIn March, I penned a post asking "where are the Ghanaian crime writers?", which you can read here: http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com/2010/03/where-are-ghanaian-crime-writers.html. I asked very similar questions to what you're asking.
I'm a budding crime writer myself. The outline for my crime story is there. Just I haven't mustered the courage to type--or even write--the outlines of the chapters fully.
We must keep the fire burning!!;-)
thanks for passing through. Loved your comments. I say go for it...
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting us know about Children of the Street. I'm looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Carol...
ReplyDeleteHello everyone: I came across your kind and interesting comments. Thanks to Fred for his praise. I think there's good news regarding my second Inspector Darko novel CHILDREN OF THE STREET (COTS): It appears Random House, at my request, has released the English language rights to a number of countries including Ghana. This means that a local Ghanaian publishing house can pick it up and publish and sell it independently at local costs and with local distribution. I will probably be back in Accra in August 2011 about 1 month after the release of COTS on July 12, 2011, hoping to meet up with some Ghanaian publishers, with whom I'm not much familiar. If you know of any, let me know. I will be bringing along some spare copies for people to have a look.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dr Kwei Quartey. This is good news for all publishing houses. I would see what I can do about that.
ReplyDelete