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Stories of the atrocities and ills committed during colonialism most often seem fictional to people's ears, especially those who never lived within the period and never directly experienced them. To those twice removed from the action, it sounds like a fantastic tale told to children around the firelight, beneath the full moon. This might have occurred because for the larger part of the twentieth century, this has been the motif for several African writers - poets, novelists, dramatists. However, nothing is as real as the wanton devastation of the people by the colonists and colonialists in their bid to own the land and subjugate, or in their own way civilise, the people. It is through the biographies and memoirs of those who lived the times that the true effects of what was meted out to our fathers and grandfathers come alive. It is easy for one to disregard fiction, but not too easy to ignore a memoir.  And in the childhood memoir of Ngugi wa Thiong'o, one of Africa...

My First Coup D'etat - Memories from the Last Decades of Africa (Bloomsbury, 2012; 318) by John Dramani Mahama is a memoir spanning the period of his childhood to the time he arrived from Russia after his postgraduate degree. Though this is a memoir of the author, it is also his memories in relation to his family, his country - Ghana, and Africa as a whole. John Dramani Mahama talks about his childhood experiences in all the places he has lived - Damongo, Busunu, Accra, Tamale, Nigeria, and Russia. However, the major subject that runs through this memoir is the numerous coups that plagued the country and the continent during the period and their effects on him and his family; but more especially the effect of the 1966 coup that toppled Nkrumah's government of which his father was a Minister of State.  Mahama's father was among several other government politicians who were arrested and detained after the coup. The most conspicuous effect of the author's father...

Interventions - A Life in War and Peace (Allen Lane, 2012; 383) is Kofi Annan's memoir focusing on an aspect of his work at the United Nations. As the title sounds, the book sought to provide some sort of explanation and reasons behind how 'interventions' became a UN policy. Like all memoirs, the book sought to provide certain reasons for which certain actions were taken. Regardless of the fact that most memoirs - including this one - are a way of putting the author in some good standing and explain away, with hindsight, the importance of the author's actions taken some time ago and as in the case of George Bush's Decision Points remove an indelible stigma that has become associated with them; regardless, there is still something to learn. If one reads between the lines, one is likely to grasp the author's intentions lurking behind. In the case of Kofi Annan, there are several areas in the book which one could easily argue with. It also shows who the st...

Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran - A Memoir in Books (Random House, 2003; 347) tells stories of the lives of the author and seven of her students between the period when the Shah was overthrown and the 'Islamic Republic' was instituted to the period where the author finally left the country, in 1997. Through her narrative, she unfolds how civil liberties, especially of women and more generally of liberals, were drastically and suddenly parred down after the revolution.  Azar Nafisi's decision to use the stories of other books to tell her story, drawing comparisons, analogies, and association, was fascinating; it was enlightening how one word - like poshlust - used by an author could have a reverberating effects on the lives of people far away from the centre of origin. In this way, Nafisi provided a deeper understanding of these books, of which Nabokov's Lolita  is but just one. Azar compares life under the secular government and life under the Islamic...

Dr Carlos Moore Literature lovers in Ghana on last week Thursday had the fun of their lives (at least most of them had), when Dr Carlos Moore, author of Fela's official biography, This Bitch of a Life , and professor John Collins, a musicologist and author of the Fela: Kalakuta Notes , took the stage to discuss the works of this great musician who was and is an industry on his own.  The discussion, organised by Kinna of Kinna Reads , saw interesting revelations in the life of Fela, a great musician Africa has ever heard. Questions were asked of the man, what he believed in and what motivated him to do what he did. This is a musician we would never understand: for the passion to fight a government as corrupt as it was cannot be cultivated from just the need to do good. Anyone who wants to do what Fela did must be born for it. After all, it is no coincidence that he is called Anikulapo (he who carries death in his pouch). Participants had the chance of purchasing autographed c...

Dr Fred McBagonluri If you have no time to write, you definitely were not born to write. All those who have the passion to write find time to do so including one person who was a finalist in the selection interview for NASA astronaut in the USA and had it not been financial constraint that limited the number of those to be chosen at the time, he would have made a name for himself as the first black African born outside of the USA to go to Moon and would also have achieved his long-held dream. Fred McBagonluri is this man. This man of multiple talents who, upon hearing of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, started corresponding with NASA, whilst still a pupil at the University of Ghana primary school, was born in East Legon, Ghana. He was the second of three sons and his grandfather was the chief of the Upper West Region of Ghana. He attended the St. Louis Prep School and graduated with a distinction from Nandom Secondary School. He briefly attended the St. Augustine's College in...

Title: You Must Set Forth at Dawn Author: Wole Soyinka Genre: Memoir Publisher: Ayebia and Bookcraft Pages: 578 Year of First Publication: 2006 (this edition 2009) I have read Professor Ali Mazrui's article 'Dr Jekyll and Mr. Soyinka' when he addressed some concerns Wole Soyinka had raised about him and his own misgivings. (Thank God that when two academicians clash in opinions and misgivings only shrapnel of knowledge is emitted). I would use Professor Mazrui's title to refer to this man of multiple personalities. My reading of Wole Soyinka's  You Must Set Forth at Dawn , written in the first person as most memoirs are,  presented to me a man of multiple personalities and had he not penned these words, I would have added the 'disorder', yet there is no point of divergence between psychosis and genius. Soyinka is political dramatist who does not dramatise his political involvement but politicise his dramas. His political life,...

Last Friday I happen to pass by the Accra Mall, and the Silverbirds store attracted me. The books pulled me and without looking left or right I entered the store. In the store, I headed directly towards the African Fiction section and I was glad to see new books from established writers such as Atukwei Okai (Lorgoligi Logarithms and Oath of the Fontomfrom), Wole Soyinka and many others filling the spaces in the shelves. Whilst searching for nothing in particular I came across two books which I couldn't prevent myself from buying. There are books whose price tag, no matter how absurd they seem, cannot, in no way whatsoever, prevent the book-addict from buying. One such book was Chimamanda's The Thing Around Your Neck, though I think it was more out of pure passion to collect this author's works than the quality of the book, as I have not at that point in time read any synopsis of it. So in my search for nothing I came across Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Th...

Title: Dreams from My Father Author: Barack Obama Genre: Memoir Publishers: Three Rivers Press Pages: 442 Year: (this edition 2004) I have been reading and still reading Obama's 'Dream from My Father' and there are several phrases and lessons we can learn from that Memoir. But believe you me, I am not going to review that book for at least three basic reasons: It is not a novel, it is a memoir (an account of the author's personal experiences) almost like an autobiography, though from where he's come from and when the book was written this is no complete autobiography: the man is now the president of America. There would definitely be one when he hits the seventieth mark (that is, if he is still alive); Obama is not an African (oops! that hurts) he is an African American. Okay he is an African or a Kenyan bu I am not reviewing that book; and I am still reading it (not a strong point, I know; but that's why it is the last point). However, ...