ImageNations

Title: The Blinkards, A Comedy and The Anglo-Fanti - A Short Story Author: Kobina Sekyi Genre: Play/Short Story Pages: 256 Publishers: Heinemann/Readwide ISBN: 978-0-435-92784-4 Year of Publication: 1974 (this edition, 1997) Country: Gold Coast (Now Ghana) Setting:  This book contains two stories: The Blinkards - a play and The Anglo-Fanti - a short story . Though the stories are from two different genres, one theme threads through them: the effect of absolute cultural osmosis or better still the consequences of swallowing an alien culture without much scrutiny, as happened in occupied countries popularly referred to by the occupiers as colonies (colonies of what? Ants? Bees?) Both stories took place in Cape Coast and the setting is very significant to the story. Apart from the author being a Fanti from Cape Coast, Cape Coast was the first point of introduction to colonial rule. As a seaport city, it was the first town that was brought under colonial rule; hence ...

J.M. Coetzee This is the concluding part of a series began in the last week of September. John Maxwell Coetzee is the last African and second South African to have won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Currently J.M. Coetzee is a citizen of Australia. Born in Cape Town on February 9, 1940, Coetzee attended St. Joseph's College and later studied Mathematics and English at the University of Cape Town, graduating in 1960 and 1961 with Bachelor of Arts with Honours and  Honours in Mathematics respectively. Coetzee worked as a computer programmer at IBM from 1962 to 1965. He later worked for the International Computers Limited in Bracknell, Berkshire. During this period he was awarded with a Master of Arts degree from the University of Cape Town for a dissertation on the novels of Ford Max Ford. He later received a PhD in Linguistics in 1969 from the University of Texas with thesis topic on the computer stylistic analysis of the works of Samuel Beckett. He taught En...

Dr. Kwei Quartey is an author whose interest lies in the Mystery genre. He has created the Inspector Darko Dawson's series, which uses the city of Accra as its background. The first in this series is titled Wife of the Gods.  ImageNations set out to interview this author who has not forgotten the genre which most of us read and loved but which we least write on, especially by Africans. 1. Who is Dr. Kwei Quartey? He's a new mystery writer who wants to be known worldwide in the same way people know Stieg Larsson, Alexander McCall Smith or Walter Mosley, and who wants to bring Ghana into reader's consciousness as a setting for mystery that competes on the same level as the US or Europe. 2. What motivates you to write? And why did you choose the mystery genre? The first part of the question isn't easy to answer. It's like asking a stage or screen actor what makes him or her perform. It's an unexplainable urge to create an absorbing story and share it with as man...

Nadine Gordimer This week's Know Your Laureate of African Origin presents the only female Nobel of African Origin, Nadine Gordimer. Nadine Gordimer was born on 20th November 1923 around Springs, Gauteng, an East Rand Mining town outside Johannesburg. Her parents, Isidore and Nan Gordimer, were Jewish Immigrants and it was them who shaped her earlier views and interests in racial and economic inequality in South Africa. This views were spurred on by the arrest of her friend, Bettie du Toit, was arrested in 1960 and the Sharpeville Massacre. Being an active critic of the apartheid government of South Africa saw her works being censored. For instance, The Late Bourgeois World was banned in 1976 for a decade; A World of Strangers  was banned for twelve years. Other works received lesser duration ban such as Burger's Daughter  was banned for one month. July's People  was also banned under apartheid, and faced censorship under post-apartheid government as well: In ...

I wrote this piece after an incident happened in Ghana when, a famous pastor was arrested (and alleged) to have raped his daughter. she thought daddy loves her Daddy would cry if she refuses she must not disobey daddy for so the Bible says according to daddy lest she would go to Hell Daddy always says this too and she would suffer world without end and so being god-fearing she parted it for him and he, being god-fearing drove in and drove out till the treacle trickle through his veins in that sweet release and she couldn’t cry because Daddy don’t like to see her cry because if she does Daddy wouldn’t buy her the treacle and she would not get her new shoes must not all god’s children wear shoes? she couldn’t tell mummy if she does she would die and if she dies she would go to hell and she would not wear her Christmas dress and she would not eat the sweet coconut cake steeped in condensed milk oh! How sweet it is but then mummy came home and she saw her walk and seeing her walk like ...

Title: Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again Author: Ola Rotimi Genre: Play Publishers: University Press PLC Pages: 86 ISBN: 978 154003 6 Year of First Performance: 1966 Place of First Performance: Yale School of Drama Year of First Publication: 1977 (this edition, 1999) Country: Nigeria This is the first time I have read a play written by an African and the second play book I have read since Shakespeare's Macbeth. And save one or two issues, I enjoyed it. Extremely. The issues has to do with reading the instructions given in the play, such as telling the director of the play that a particular statement was made off-stage or something else. Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again is a hilarious comic play by Ola Rotimi. It tells the story of Lejoka-Brown, a soldier and a man of many wives. One of the wives he married himself while fighting in the Congo, the other (Mama Rashida) was the wife of his elder brother who was married to him by default after the death of his bro...

Last week I treated myself to a an unprecedented book-buying spree. I love books and would do everything to get them; however, I never never done this before - buying 10 books in a five days? So here is list: Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe This is a book I think I should have read long long time ago. I don't know why I haven't, better now than never. Chinua Achebe, winner of the Man Booker International - awarded every two years for an author's entire portfolio, is one author whose non-recognition by the Nobel committee has puzzled me. His most popular offering, Things Fall Apart, paved the way for many writers. There is no one who has read African novels, who hasn't read this book, possibly. This book was shortlisted for the Man Booker in 1987. A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe Same story as above. Any story by Achebe is worth the read, I believe so. Contemporary African Short Stories edited by Chinua Achebe and C. L. Innes This is a collection of shor...

Diana McBagonluri is a Ghanaian writer with several books to her name. She writes different genres and audience. Whereas most of her books are for children and teens, she also have books that satisfy the adult population. She is the author of the English text books for primary schools currently used in public schools in Ghana.  Diana McBagonluri's Collection: Drama: Boomerang (February 2001), this is available on amazon . King's Drumbeat (Kindle Edition published on September 18, 2010), also available on amazon . Novellete Mother's Tribute (Kindle Edition was published on September 18, 2010. Click here to make a purchase . Novel Tears of a Rain Goddess , is also on amazon . Short Story Books for Children My Brother the Footballer ( Kindle Edition, September 14, 2010) Bee Ninja ( Kindle Edition, September 2010) Both of these books is available on amazon. Serialised Fantasy Novel Sons of the Skroll: The Battle of the Tigers (August 7, 2010).  Sons of the Skroll...

Naguib Mahfouz Last week, on the 7th October 2010, lovers of African Literature kept their fingers crossed waiting for the Nobel committee to announce their choice of the laureate for 2010. Ngugi wa Thiong'o, whose latest novel, The Wizard of the Crow, caused the Arap Moi government to go in search of its main character, and when upon finding that it is a creation of the author caused him (the government of Kenya) to publicly burn a thousand copies of his book, was tipped to win the award. The odds were in his favour. And knowing the penchant for the Nobel's committee to always 'dodge' mainstream predictions, I waited with skepticism. Yet, I prayed silently to a god unknown for this great man, who has forsaken all financial enticements to write in his native Gikuyu to win the award. And the Nobel committee never disappointed, they only disappointed me. But for Ngugi to have been an odds favourite to win speaks volumes of the man's contribution to literature and...

Over the past two weeks, I have added some books to my library.  William Golding's Lord of the Flies The copy I have has a bright yellow cover with red fonts. The backs covers says it is was published for educational purposes. The printing is so bad that I suspect, and judging from where I bought it I might be right, that it is an 'un-original' copy. I don't want to say what I am thinking. Yes, we need these books and if the demand is there and the mainstream publishers aren't satisfying it, others would. Ola Rotim i's Our Husband has gone Mad again I usually do not read plays. The only one I have read is Shakespeare's Macbeth. However, if I am to fulfill my Top 100 reading resolution and keep up with African writers I must develop the love for this genre and no other way to develop love for a genre than to start with the famous and well-loved ones. Ola Rotimi is also the author of ' The Gods are not to Blame '. It was this latter book, ...

I have known this for a while but wanted to let you in after some time. Some of my poetry pieces have been published in various anthologies. I summarise them below. The War Against War: Poetry about stark realities of war With contributions from poets in Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, USA, and India, the War Against War contains the voices of poets who represent a growing fatigue with aggression in the world. Each poem looks at war from broken windows - images are disturbing and the sentiments are gloomy. Each poet in this anthology wages a war against war with compelling perspectives. Authors in the collection: Prince Kwasi Mensah, Lord God Almighty, Lila Mensa, Roland Marke, Cosmas Mairosi, Afegbua Shabban, Emmanuel Jakpa, Simbarashe Clever Kavenga, Tinahse Muchuri, Nana Fredua-Agyeman, Timothy Middleditch, Basanta Kar, Carrie Ann Thunell, Darko Antwi and Batsirai Chigama. Whispers in the Whirlwind: A Collection of Poems about Socio-Economic Challenges in Africa As a continent blesse...