One from Ghana: Powder Necklace by Nana Ekua-Brew Hammond and a Reading at Nubuke

I continue what I started yesterday, to blog five new and first time books from five different authors from three countries. Yesterday I talked about the duo from Zimbabwe: Tendai and Bryony. Today, I come home, Ghana. It is unfortunate that the volume of book publication (literary, not nursery rhymes produced in a corner shop) in Ghana has taken a negative turn and I hope that by the institution of the Burt Awards, new writers would be challenged enough to pick up the pen and put something delectable on paper.

Powder Necklace by Ekua Brew-Hammond

About the Author: "As a kid, I lived in Ghana for three years where I attended boarding school and encountered a small group of kids whose parents had also sent them to Ghana from Europe and the States. I wanted to write a book about that unique hybrid experience of being from two places at the same time, crisscrossing the globe to visit family 'back home' and on other dots of the map, and figuring out how to answer when people ask you where you're from--all while meeting the challenge of growing up" Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond.

About the Story: To protect her daughter from the fast life and bad influences of London, her mother sent her to school in rural Ghana. The move was for the girl's own good, in her mother's mind, but for the daughter, the reality of being a new girl, the foreigner-among-your-own-people, was even worse than the idea. During her time at school, she would learn that Ghana was much more complicated than her fellow expats had ever told her, including how much a London-raised child takes something like water for granted. In Ghana, water "became a symbol of who had and who didn't, who believed in God and who didn't. If you didn't have water to bathe, your were poor because no one had sent you some." After six years in Ghana, her mother summons her home to London to meet the new man in her mother's life--and his daughter. The reunion is bittersweet and short-lived as her parents decide it's time that she get to know her father. So once again, she's sent off, this time to live with her father, his new wife, and their young children in New York--but not before a family trip to Disney world.

Praise

"Brew-Hammond's colourful descriptions of Ghana and emotionally honest style capture the reader's attention from the first page" J.L. King, New York Times bestselling author.

Book Reading at Nubuke: Courtesy of the Writers Project of Ghana, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond would be reading her debut novel, Powder Necklace, at the Nubuke Foundation located behind the new Mensvic Hotel, tomorrow 13th August 2010. The books would be available for sale and yours would be autographed. Let's come together and help the authors. The time of the reading is 7 pm exactly.

A copy could also be obtained from Amazon.

35. Powder Necklace by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

 Title: Powder Necklace
Author: Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publishers: Washington Square Press
Pages: 280
Year of Publication: 2010
Country: Britain, Ghana, USA

Where is home? Where your parents come from? Or where you were born? Or where one chooses to call home? The quest for an identity, for belonging to a group, either based on colour or language or thought, has become a quest that has proved and would continue to prove insurmountable. It would be with us for many generations to come, until such a day when we shall wake up and say 'We are people of the earth'. 

Powder Necklace is a coming of age story about a young girl whose divorced Ghanaian parents, living on opposite sides of the world (America and England), was herself born in England. Does she become English? Of course that's how she described herself, at least that's how she felt when her 'overprotective' mother sent her to Ghana after seeing her with a boy in their house. Lila, the girl in question, became furious and resented her mother for punishing her for something 'that didn't happen'. In Ghana, Lila refused to accept or respond to the phrase 'welcome come home' as most people she met greeted her with, when they saw her skin colour.

Though the novel does not claim to solve or has answers to the problems that children born in foreign lands undergo, its strength lies in bluntly portraying the cultural shock these children go through when forcefully plunged into these strange lands of their parents. The vast disparity in thinking and action between cultures and people, and in development and accessibility to basic utilities that make life comfortable such as warm shower, wears them down and begins to tell on every aspect of their lives. Yet, with time they adjust and become one with this strange place as Lila, even after all her complaints, made some friends, drank fermented kenkey with them, and began to lose her British accent. 

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, author of Powder Necklace

Whilst in Ghana Lila attended Dadaba Senior Secondary School, (one of) the best secondary schools in the country; yet Lila complained not because she was choosy but because the best she saw truly couldn't compare with what she had left behind. And just when Lila felt she's settled in, her whimsical mother sent for her to be brought back to England but that wouldn't be her end. That not being her end of cross-continent travels. She was again sent to live with her father whom she had had a lackluster relationship. Ironically, it was with her ghostly father, a personality she knew only through his voice that used to boom through the phone ear-piece, that all pieces began falling together (not revealing anything here). All I would say at this point is that I personally don't believe that children are always right, for even though Lila thought her mother is only interrupting her life, not making her live the way she wanted, we observed that her thoughts were different from the reality.

Nana Ekua wrote this story like it is, portraying accurately how children always think that they are right and their parents are wrong; how they think they can manage their own affairs without any parental help or intervention but are quick to blame parents when problems begin to set in, when things refuse to go as they (the children) think they would or should or must go.

For instance, when Lila's respect towards her mother began to decline and her mother decided to send her away to her father, this is what young Lila said:

I resented mum for putting me in this situation again and for not being strong enough to handle her full responsibility to me. She wasn't allowed breaks from me, just like I wasn't allowed breaks from her. She was my mother and I was her daughter (page 196)

The imagery in the novel is so strong that the scenes run through the mind like cinema reels. The author did justice to all the cultural shock that she encountered and things that I usually take for granted took on new meanings. For instance, though I always read the inscriptions of cars and stores and kiosks, I never really considered their link to faith. Besides the imagery, the metaphors and similes were unique and not clichéd, at least according to my ears. This is how Lila described her 'lethargic' relationship with her father:

Ever since that day we'd spoken on the phone in Auntie Flora's flat, the day he'd told me he'd just had twins, my father had become to me like something I had left on the bus (page 195)

In writing this story, the author--Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond--who herself is a product of this cross borders procreation, did not think of hurting feelings or even portraying her story to suit her changing understanding and acceptance of issues. For instance, she still wrote about the ugly looking school desks, the dusty, bumpy roads, the bad odour at places, even when she realised that the country isn't all about that. These're what make this book an interesting read. No cover ups, no pretensions, writing things as they occurred to Lila and remaining true to all her experiences. 

Writing in the first person singular, which makes the story read almost like a memoir, Lila was able to tell her story in a way that makes the reader feels as if he or she was Lila, feeling, seeing, smelling and sensing everything Lila felt, saw, smelled, and sensed and yet able to laugh at those that were laughable.

This is one of the few stories I have read that ring true to my ears. Powder Necklace, the first novel by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond is a must read and I would recommend it for all.

Read my interview with the author here...

Nana Brew Hammond in Essence

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, author of Powder Necklace and a fashion aficionado has granted Essence an interview. In it she talked about her book, her background and her work as a fashion editor at Bluefly.com. According to the Magazine:

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond has proven herself to be a force to be reckoned with in the unforgivably competitive literary world. A cum laude graduate of Vassar College, sh ehas become a trailblazer in African literature and has risen to the challenge with her new book, "Powder Necklace." What began as a potential memoir ended up morphing into a striking portrayal of multi-faceted character whose eclectic cultural background and layered life experience created a story that is hard to forget. Currently the Style Editor for Bluefly.com, this modern day fashionista and author had quite a bit to share with ESSENCE on her career, fashion philosophy and what it takes to stand out in the crowd.

Read the full interview at ESSENCE. 

2010 in Review

I took this meme from Marie of Boston Bibliophile. I have taken the liberty to add some of the questions myself

How many books read in 2010?

Twenty-nine (29), two more than last year. Except that this includes two single stories. Plays (2); Memoir/(Auto)Biography (1); Single Stories (2); Anthologies (short stories) (4); Novels (20). 

Total pages read was 7,799 (7,541 last year) and the average number of books per month is 2.42 (2.25 last year).

How many did you review?

Twenty-two (22). The remaining 7 were non-African novels.

How many of the books read were on the Top 100?

Only six. (hmm!)

How man fiction and non-fiction?

Only 1 non-fiction: You Must Set Forth at Dawn by Wole Soyinka

Male-Female Ratio

8 Female, 18 Male and 3 indeterminate (?), I mean anthologies from various writers.

Favourite book of 2010

African book: The Beautyful Ones are not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah

Non-African book: Between Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and William Golding's Lord of the Flies. In fact, there is also Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. 

Least favourite

There was not a single book I didn't enjoy something about. I didn't totally abandoned any book this year, nor have I before.

Any that you simply couldn't finish and why?

No there was no book I didn't finish. I suspended Byatt's Possession for sometime but I picked it again. I did that when it became academic. But I enjoyed the diary entries. The ending was too suspicious and I think it ended too quickly. The kind where everything just fit into the puzzle.

Oldest Novel

The Castle by Franz Kafka, first published in 1926. However, the Anglo-Fanti Short Story of the twin book: The Blinkards and the Anglo-Fanti Short Story by Kobina Sakyi, was first published in 1918.

Newest Novel

I read four books that were published in 2010 (A Heart to Mend by Myne Whitman; African Roar, edited by Ivor Hartman and Emmanuel Sigauke; Powder Necklace by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond and The Hairdresser of Harare) however if I consider when the month and when promotion actually started I think the newest book would be Tendai Huchu's The Hairdresser of Harare.

Longest and shortest title?

Longest: The Blinkards: A Comedy and The Anglo-Fanti Short Story

Shortest: in terms of the number of characters forming the word, the shortest title is Changes by Ama Ata Aidoo and AmaZulu by Walton Golightly.

Longest and shortest books?

Longest: AmaZulu by Walton Golightly with 634 pages

Excluding the single short stories, The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka with 64 pages.

Most read author of the year and how many books by the read was read?

Andre Brink (2); Wole Soyinka (2) and Ayi Kwei Armah (2)

Any re-reads?

No

Favourite character of the year?

Lejoka-Brown in Ola Rotimi's Our Husband has gone mad again

Which countries did you go to through the pages in your reading?

Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Trinidad and Tobago, Zulu nation, US, England, Benin, Rwanda, Kenya, Jerusalem and others unnamed. Soyinka in his memoir took me to so many countries I cannot name.

Which book wouldn't you have read without someone's recommendation?

None.

Which author was new to you in 2010 that you now want to read the entire works of?

All the authors I met in 2010 and would love to read again only have a single book: Tendai Huchu, Myne Whitman, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond.

Which books are you annoyed you didn't read?

A lot. I want to read more books on my Top 100 but accessibility is the problem. However, I would make sure I do that next year. I wanted to read Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions but by the time I had a copy, it was late for 2010 reading.

Did you read any book you have always been meaning to read?

Yes, Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

2010 Top Ten Book events?

A few, not up to ten.

1. Carlos Moore's book reading at Nubuke Foundation, organised by Kinna of Kinna Reads
2. Nana Awere Damoah's book reading at Goethe Institute organised by the Writers Project of Ghana
3. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond's book reading at the Nubuke Foundation, organised by the Writers Project of Ghana
4. Martin Egblewogbe's Book reading at Niagara Plus Hotel
5. Creative Non-fiction workshop, organised by Mbaasem Foundation
6. Poetry Marathon at the Legon Reading Room, organised by Writers Project of Ghana
7. Fiction Workshop at the Legon Reading Room, organised by Writers Project of Ghana
8. Mariska Taylor's book reading at the Goethe Institute organised by the Writers Project of Ghana

An Interview with Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, author of Powder Necklace

Following my interview with Tendai Huchu, I continue today with another interview from the author of Powder Necklace, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond.

Can you tell us something about yourself (place of birth, school and anything in between)?

I was the only black baby born in the small town of Plattsburgh, New York so I made the paper, my mother tells me. A few years later, my parents moved to New York City and I grew up in Queens for most of my childhood. At 12, my parents decided to send me and my siblings to secondary school in Ghana. It was a life-changing experience for me--even then I knew I would write about it. I even said as much to a classmate and she told me "Just don't go and exaggerate."

What particularly motivated you to write this novel? And what motivates you to write in general?

I needed to get this story for a number of reasons. 1: I wanted to expose the superiority complex people in the West have concerning Africa. 2: I wanted to make the connection that just because a person is born outside the continent, he/she is not "other" and 3: I wanted to make the point that God works things for good--even when events in life seem random and ridiculous.

In general, I am motivated to write because it's important to me not to be defined by someone else. If we leave the Storytelling to other people we can't get too mad if they get it wrong. I also love writing--from the inspiration involved in coming up up with a concept to the discipline of the process to stringing the actual words together. I'm so thankful for the gift of words.

Which books did you find yourself reading whilst growing up and which are you currently reading?

I read a ton of romance novels when I was much too young to! My mom had a library full of Harlequin and Silhouette romance novels as well as Sidney Sheldon books. I devoured them all! I was also into book series--Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew, the Girls of Canby Hall... I recently read Harmattan Rain by Ayesha Harruna Attah which I loved, as well as Sharon M. Draper's Copper Sun.

Which writers have influenced your writing?

Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood is one of my absolute favourite books. I aspire to be as an insightful, informative, and elegant with my words. I also love Janet Fitch's White Oleander, Chinua Achebe's Man of the People, Zadie Smith's White Teeth, Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone, Shauna Singh Bladwin's What the Body Remembers... Basically, any and every writer who is able to authentically and honestly convey resilience of the human condition in unusual and extraordinary circumstances.

Which literary genre are you comfortable with and which did you begin with?

As a kid I always wrote short stories so I guess that was the genre I started with. Poetry, essays, and scripts come naturally to me as well.

What do you intend to achieve with your writing?

I hope to add my voice to the African authors before me, beside me, and behind me committed to creating balanced, engaging, informative, and authentic portraits of the continent. I don't want to romanticize Africa, but I do want people to be aware that there is more to the continent than corruption, political unrest, war, disease, poverty, genocide and the rest.

Which writing style are you comfortable with and which do you find challenging?

I love to write poetry, dialogue, and description so I try to use these to shore up all my work. The biggest challenge for me when it comes to writing is time management. I work full time, try to stay social, and am easily distracted so it's hard to discipline myself to stay solitary for long stretches of time and just write.

How difficult was it for you to become published?

For me, the hard part was not getting published, but finding a literary agent. It took me four years to find an agent who "got" the story of Powder Necklace.

Tell us something about your book, Powder Necklace.

A fictionalized account of my own experience leaving the States at 12 to school in Ghana, Powder Necklace is a transcontinental coming of age story about a girl trying to find herself as she is shuttled between London, Kumasi, Cape Coast, and ultimately the States. Though events in my life may seem random, the story encourages readers to believe that God is working everything out for good.

Do you keep diary entries?

I do! I've been consistently keeping a journal since 1994 and it's been awesome to go back and read old diaries from time to time and see that the thing I was stressing at one point in my life turned out okay in the end or wasn't even that big of a deal.

How did you feel when you saw your name on the cover of the book?

I felt like "That day has met that day," I'd dreamt this and now I was holding the evidence in my hand. It was emotional and a little bit scary too. Now that I had the book out there, what next?

Has being published changed your life?

Being published has given me that extra shot of encouragement to keep on keeping on.

Reading around about you I see you do a lot of writing, are you into writing full time or is it a past time activity?

No, writing is not a past time activity for me. I write professionally as a Style Editor and Content Manager which is my full time gig. I also write freelance arts, entertainment and fashion articles for newspapers and magazines while pursuing longer format writing projects like novels and plays

What are your observations concerning the literary scene in Ghana?

I got the sense that it's a small community but thriving. And it's pure. The people who are in it aren't just participating because it's the cool thing to do--they really love words and appreciate their impact on culture as a whole.

What do you do apart from writing?

I'm a big fan of mindless television so when I'm not writing, I'm watching reality programs. In Ghana, I've become a fast fan of the soap opera Shades and Sin! Will Paco and Preda reunite? I also love to read and when it's hot enough I hit the beach.

Can you tell us your memorable time in Ghana?

This one's crazy. I was in full-on tourist mode, snapping photos of everything, particularly the different uniforms people wear in various government offices. I made the mistake of snapping a few men in uniform at Makola Market when all hell broke loose. The next thing I knew, I was being tugged by my arms in two directions by this group of men. They demanded my camera and asked that I follow them somewhere. I refused on both counts--all while shrieking like an animal--but I did have to take out the film in my camera. That was the day I woke up to the fact that Accra is a city and being New York-bred I needed to act like I knew how to comport myself in a metropolis.

Any work in progress?

Yes, I am working on a novel, that follows the evolution of a Ghanaian family from the mid-1960s to the present day.

Thank you for your time

Thank YOU!

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond keeps an official website here. In Ghana, copies of Powder Necklace are available at the Silverbirds Lifestyle shop.

ImageNations would review Powder Necklace, so keep watching this space.

Conversation with Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Author of Tail of the Blue Bird

Nii Ayikwei Parkes writes poetry, prose and articles. He is a former Poet-in-Residence at the Poetry Cafe and author of three poetry chapbooks: eyes of a boy, lips of a man (1999); M is for Madrigal (2004), and Shorter (2005). His poems have appeared in several anthologies. His latest novel Tail of the Blue Bird (2009) was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers Prize for First Best Book for the Europe and Asia Region Category (perhaps because he lives in Britain. Don't worry he's a Ghanaian). Parkes main areas of exploration as a writer are reinterpretation of language, micro-cultural conflicts and power. He's been influenced by several African writers including Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Kwesi Brew, Christopher Okigbo, Ama Ata Aidoo, Mariam Ba, Meshack Asare, Atukwei Okai, Ola Rotimi and others. He sees a future in writers and performers such as Mamle Kabu, Mutombo Da Poet, Elizabeth-Irene Baetie, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Ayesha Haruna Atta, Lesley Loko, and others. 

Parkes took some time off to talk to ImageNations on issues ranging from poetry, prose to his views on the literary scene. Below is the interview.

How would you describe yourself to those who do not know you (education, career and anything in between)?

I'm a North Kaneshie boy, I honed my early writing at Ann's Preparatory School, then wrote love poems for love-struck boys in Achimota School, taught Physics and Biology in Tolon Kumbungu for National Service, left to study in the UK, returned to work in Ghana, then left again to 'become a writer'. I've had many accolades, but none have made me prouder than the ACRAG award I got in Ghana in 2007.

You won an Art Council Award for the novel The Cost of Red Eyes in October 2003. How was publicity like, because I never heard of this story? Was it your first novel? How many novels do you have as of now?

It's a novel that has not yet been released because when I met my agent, he felt that Tail of the Blue Bird was a stronger novel so we went with that first. I suspect I may release it much later, like Walter Mosley did with his first novel, Gone Fishin'.

Your recent novel Tail of the Blue Bird was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize, Best First Book Category, for South Asia and Europe Region, to represent Britain. We would have loved to have seen it on our shortlist, what happened?

Well, the thing that you are never told in publishing is that your publisher enters you for these awards and decided which category to include you in; I qualified for both Africa and Europe because I was born in the UK and I guess my publisher thought I stood a better chance in the South Asia and Europe Region. I hold my hands up; I can't explain it, nothing to do with me.

Whodunit is a genre with fewer authors in Ghana. Some Ghanaian book bloggers and I have talked about it. I can only mention Kwei Quartey with his inspector Dawson series. What led to the writing of this novel and why this genre?

I didn't exactly set out to write a whodunit and, technically, the book isn't a whodunit; the question in my book is more of a how? than a who? but the benefit of writing in the structure of a crime novel is that it creates tension, a book like Umberto Eco's In the Name of the Rose, uses almost the same device.

What’s theme of Tail of the Blue Bird?

It's an exploration of power – power and violence and retribution and consequence and self-regulation; the power of state justice versus local justice, the community versus the individual, of the scientific versus the superstitious, of writing versus oral storytelling, the power of ignorance and innocence. It's a theme that gets deeper as you try to escape it.

Both Hisham Matar and Helon Habila described this novel as ‘poetic’ and as borne out of a ‘poet’s sensibility’ respectively. How attached to poetry are you? Will you say that poetry ticks you the most, relative to all the other genres you write in?

Poetry is my first love. I heard it in conversations as I was growing up; I think coming to Ghana as a child when, even though I spoke Ga, English was the language I heard most of the time, really had an impact. I developed a fascination with the Ga language and its rich imagery. I would eavesdrop mercilessly (and sometimes be beaten mercilessly for my merciless acts) and hear in all those conversations little threads of poetic clarity. Poetry is the music of speech, the illogical logic of nature, the name for the unnameable, so, yes, poetry is, relative to all other genres, my preferred dancing partner. It doesn't step on my toes.

You have won several awards. However, one that I followed or tried to and even blogged about it was the nomination of your poem ballast: a remix for the Michael Marks Award. What happened, because I never heard anything again, not even from their site?

I didn't win the award, but the ballast poems became an entire section in my new book of poems, The Makings of You, so for me it's a win.

Your poetry anthology Shorter published in 2005 is geared towards raising funds for a writer’s fund in Ghana. Could you please tell us something about this fund and how other individuals could help? What are the objective, vision and goal of this writer’s fund?

I just answered this question for One Ghana, One Voice, so I'll give you pretty much the same answer. Although The Writers Fund is on a small hiatus while I build a bespoke website for it, my passion for it remains the same. My goals for the project relate to the huge gap in the production of writing from Ghana since the 60s and 70s and my belief that that dearth relates to the lack of resources to support writing and reading. Our goals are: To serve and encourage excellence in creative writing in all the languages used in Ghana; To raise public awareness of the pivotal role of literature in shaping, preserving and developing a society’s identity and cultural life; To lobby educational institutions at home and abroad to secure residencies, scholarships and research opportunities for Ghanaian writers; To work to ensure that Ghanaian writing is well represented in the curriculum in schools and universities both at home and abroad; Support the initiatives of the Ghana Association of Writers. Anyone who has ideas is very welcome to contact me and initiate the exploration of those ideas. One of the things that drives me is the notion that our literary reading - both academic and personal - is in general so many years behind that we haven't tuned in to what we can do with language, how (learning from the Latin American writers, for example) we can bring our unique approach to how the English language is used etc. As a result, I am really keen to set up libraries all over the place and anyone who knows how we can get our hands on free shipping containers to use as the framework for building these libraries would be a very welcome contact at the moment. I have had some preliminary discussions with architects about how to customise containers using locally sourced material to create library spaces that are fascinating and conducive to reading/learning.

You have stated that you read mainly works from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Gambia while growing up. Who are your favourite authors then and now and which of them have influenced your art form?

Mariama Bâ, Meshack Asare, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Kwesi Brew, Christopher Okigbo, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ola Rotimi, Atukwei Okai. I'm sure there are influences within my work, but I haven't consciously sought influences. What I will say is that Atukwei Okai, by acting as a mentor to me when I had doubts about whether to become a writer, has been the most influential in actual terms.

You have stated that your main areas of exploration as a writer are reinterpretation of language, micro-cultural conflicts and power. What do you mean by this and how do you face these broad subject matters in your writings?

Well, if you look at what Ngugi says in Decolonising the Mind, you realise that our use of English is in a way a form of masochism, but as we already have the language, we have to think of ways to strip it of its weapons, its means of expression that devalue who we are, who we were – that is one of the frontiers of the reinterpretation of language. With micro-cultural conflicts, I simply mean that I am very interested in the tiniest shifts in psyche, for example how a walk through Agbogloshie market will differ for me and my younger brother simply because, even though we grew up in the same house, he may understand Hausa and I don't – or I may know 50 words of Dagarti and he doesn't, making us react very differently to what the random collection of people that make the market buzz with its mysterious energy might be screaming. I think I have spoken about power in the context of Tail of the Blue Bird (which actually contains all the elements listed in your question – the italicisation of non-Akan origin words in the hunter's voice, the differences in attitudes between Kayo and his friends/parents, and the plight of the police in Sonokrom, for example.)

Though you have lived in Britain for many years, you describe yourself as a Ghanaian. Not lost yet, I think. So how do you see the literary landscape in Ghana? Is there hope or it is in total descent?

Where there is life, there is hope. Don't forget we have stars developing right under your noses – the Mamle Kabus, Mutombo Da Poets, Elizabeth-Irene Baities – as well as a very good crop of Ghanaian writers abroad who are keeping their connections with home very tight. Writers like Lesley Lokko, Mohammed Naseehu Ali, Ayesha Haruna Atta, Nana Ekua Brew Hammond, Dzifa Benson – it's a long, long, list.

Thanks for your time, but before we go any last words to writers? And please tell us where we can get your books to buy in Ghana. People do ask me of this.

For writers, write crooked. For buyers, check SyTris books – they really support me and they try to always have my books in stock.

ImageNations would be bringing you a review of his novel Tail of the Blue Bird during the Ghana Literature Week.

Discussion: African Writers and Migration

I used to bring up topics for discussions and even though participation is sometimes low, I enjoy the few comments that do come in. We need to do a lot to promote African literature.

There is a trend among African writers which if not corrected could prevent some wonderful writers from being seen. The majority of Contemporary African writers live outside the continent. (And before anyone takes me on on what I mean by 'African writers', I refer to those writers whose names, when they should come up for awards, would be linked to a country on the continent. Some Africans have chosen to be Africans when it suits them.) It seems that if you are a writer on this continent and you have not won any major prize - especially the Caine Prize, you will remain anonymous forever even if you have been lucky enough to have been published by a publisher outside of the continent. Consequently, most writers either dream of winning some major award or of migrating to live partially or permanently in the United States or the United Kingdom so they could realise their dreams. Usually, this has nothing to do with talent. At least in Ghana, where I live and can back this statement with examples, a large majority of published authors live outside the continent. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Ayesha Harruna-Atta, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Kwei Quartey, Taiye Selasi (if we claim her from the Nigerians) are a few of the Ghanaian authors living outside the continent. It is as if writing from the continent does not make one an author. I read somewhere that Teju Cole had a publication in Nigerian before his US publication of Open City, yet when this book came out it was described as a debut novel.

What is the cause of this? Is it the dearth of publishing houses? At least in Ghana, I know this is likely to be the case. Or is it that being published by big publishing houses expands the path to fame? Or is it the much touted excuse that 'we don't read'? What exactly makes writing from this continent add another layer of difficulty to an already difficult job of writing? What can be done to rectify this?

197. Growing Yams in London by Sophia Acheampong

The proportion of Ghanaian writers, both at home and in the diaspora, are incomparable to countries like Nigeria, whose authors have become household names, names we throw about in every literary discussion, names like Achebe, Soyinka, Okri, Chimamanda, Elechi Amadi, Buchi Emecheta and others. If there are few Ghanaians involved in the art of weaving words into novels, there are fewer - in fact, they could be counted on the fingers of one hand - whose writings are directed towards the youth or who dabble in the type of books commonly referred to as Young Adults. And I can count only one name: Nana Brew-Hammond whose Powder Necklace was reviewed here. Today, another check-box has been ticked and a new name added.

Sophia Acheampong's Growing Yams in London (Piccadilly Press, 2006; 220) is a Young Adult fiction about first and second generation Ghanaians in England working tirelessly to find a compromise between between the culture of their homeland and that of their adoptive country. The émigré parents having been born in their native countries have been instilled with a set of cultural systems that define what is right and what is wrong, the borders of conversation between children and adults, and the codes of conduct (or rules of behaviour). Pitched against the parents are the children who face different, and usually diametrically opposite, set of codes of conducts in a very liberal society that, comparatively, usually grants them more freedom. 

But the immigrants story - first generation, second generation, or even third generation - has been written from several perspectives: their inability to or difficulty to adapt or fit in (language, desires, likes, dislikes), the name-calling and taunts (here one can mention the race issue), the finding of what and where home is after one has live almost her entire life in a country different from her parents'. So what makes Sophia's story different from the others? What makes it worth the read? In Growing Yams in London (the title itself is attraction enough), the characters are not necessarily working to fit-in, they've already fitted in; they are not facing that dilemma of settling on where home is, they know and understand their dual status; and they are not being haunted by race, names or fighting or indulging in drugs. The children in this novel are your normal English children and faces the same or similar problems as all English children. To Makeeda and her friends, getting a boyfriend is the major challenge. And this is where the challenge is also for Makeeda's first generation emigres whose idea of boyfriend is different from their hers. To them it is and should be a no-go area but the latest crop of communication technology and gadgets means that new techniques of supervision is required and, if possible, a relenting of rules and redefining parenting.

But ... there is an issue of roots. However, Makeeda's plight is different; whereas her  parents won't impose this on her, she finds it within herself to learn more about herself. Hence, when a history assignment required them to write about a history person that inspires them she set out to use it to learn more about her roots. 

This story is funny, light and relatable and the issues raised are accurately youngish, the things an early teen girl in this era of technological age will worry about - jealous friends, boyfriends (or love), fashion, impressions, hurts, and fear of being referred to as a nerd - with the usual and adequate dose of trysts. All the elements of a good story were perfectly balanced in this story. Sophia rendered the story in a perfect language suitable for that age group she was working with. The dialogue is believable and the reader finds not the author in the read; all the reader finds are people living their lives off the pages of the story as he turns over the pages.

Sophia has a niche and she will do well to capitalise on this. This book is recommended. 

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About the author: Sophia Acheampong is a British-born Ghanaian. She lives and works in North London and studied at Brunel University. Like Makeeda, she too is still learning about her culture.

When asked in an interview about the use of technology in her work Sophia says "When I was a teenager mobile phones and email were in their early stages. Everyone used landlines to communicate, wrote letters to friends abroad, and had a stack of phone cards for calling friends from a phone box. Now technology punctuates our existence, especially that of teenagers. I felt compelled to incorporate text messages and IM in Growing Yams in London as it was an essential part of Makeeda’s teenage experience." (Source)

Africa Reading Challenge

I started reviewing African-authored books on this blog in June 2009, somewhere in 2010 I expanded the focus of the blog to 'Promoting African Literature'. However, for those who know and those who don't, Africa is the second largest and the second most populous continent. Consequently, it is made up of many countries, fifty-four to be specific.

However, in my bid to promote African Literature I have, inadvertently, covered some countries more than others. This has to change. To represent Africa is to represent all the countries. So in addition to my on-going reading challenge, which is to read a selected list of 100 books to be read in 5 years, I would want to read at least an author from each African country in 2011. And this is where I need your help. I would want my readers to suggest interesting authors they have read from other African countries other than those I have listed below. Please help me form this list.

Countries Covered since June 2009:

Ghana

1. Alex Agyei-Agyiri (1)
2. Ama Ata Aidoo (1)
3. Ama Darko (2)
4. Ayesha Harruna Attah (1)
5. Ayi Kwei Armah (4)
6. Camynta Baezie (1)
7. Kobina Sekyi (1)
8. Kojo Laing (1)
9. Mamle Kabu (1)
10. Martin Egblewogbe (1)
11. Marilyn Heward-Mills (1)
12. Nana Awere Damoah (1)
13. Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond (1)

Kenya 

1. Ngugi wa Thiong'o (1)

Lesotho

1. Morabo Morojele (1)

Nigeria

1. Ben Okri (1)
2. Buchi Emecheta (1)
3. Chimamanda Adichie (3)
4. Chinua Achebe (3)
5. Henry Ajumeze (1)
6. Myne Whitman (1, currently reading)
7. Ola Rotimi (1)
8. Uwem Akpan (1)
9. Wole Soyinka (2)

South Africa

1. Andre Brink (2)
2. J.M. Coetzee (2)
3. Nelson Mandela (1)
4. Walton Golightly (1)

Zimbabwe

1. Tendai Huchu (currently reading)

Countries covered: 6 out of the 54.

As you can see North Africa is not covered. I need your help in building this list.
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Update (August 3, 2011): Click here for my progress. A Country is assumed to be effectively covered when a minimum of three different authors are read in that country, though reading one author per country would also be as good enough. The idea with the three is that when I go beyond the three different authors, any other book I read by either one of the already-read authors or a even a new author would not be considered as part of this challenge. This would avoid spending more time on one country.


Update of the Rules(August 17, 2011):
Level One: Read one novel or novella or short-story anthology (but not a short single story or a short story which is a contribution to a multiple-authored anthology) of any author from an African country to take that country out of the challenge.
Level Two: Read two novels or novellas or short-story anthologies or any combination of these (but not two short single stories or two short stories which are contributions to a multiple-authored anthology) of any author from an African country to take that country out of the challenge.
Level Three: Read more than two novels or novellas or short-story anthologies or any combinations of these (but not more than two short single stories or short stories which are contributions to a multiple-authored anthology) of any author from an African country to take that country out of the challenge.


This is a life-long challenge and it is aimed at covering the length and breadth of this continent. It is also meant to prevent people from seeing Literature coming from only one country as representative of African Literature. With 54 countries, the latest being Southern Sudan, it is expected that a reader would have read at least 54 books by the end of this challenge. Books from some countries would be difficult to get so that covering half of the 54 is enough, though spreading it across the North, South, East, West and Central Africa would give the reader a good perspective of what African Literature is and how diverse it is.

Library Additions

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 short stories from all parts of Africa. Contributors include Nadine Gordimer (Nobel Laureate), Ben Okri (Booker Winner), Kojo Laing, and many others. This is a great collection I believe all must endeavour to have. 

Matigari by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

I have only read Weep Not Child. I have A Grain of Wheat on my list of TBR. However, ever since he became a Nobel hopeful I have decided to read almost every offering this great author has made. It would have been a disgrace as someone dedicated to promoting African Literature to have not read, adequately, a hopeful laureate. So I am working hard to improve this. This novel was first written, as most of his novels, in Gikuyu - the author's native language, and translated into English.

Changes by Ama Ata Aidoo

Now comes the shame, the gender imbalance in my African readings. I have only read Buchi Emecheta, Chimamanda Adichie, Ayesha Harruna Atta, Nana Ekua Brew Hammond (and ...). The funny thing is that I have not read Anowa by Ama Ata Aidoo, one of the novels on my TBR. I searched for it and couldn't find it at the Legon Bookshop so I purchased this in place. According to Amy of Amy Reads she loved this book and I hope I would love it too. Ama Ata Aidoo is a prominent Ghanaian writer.

Chaka by Thomas Molofo

Chaka is on my TBR. This is a novel I have always passed by in the bookshop without knowing why. Finally, I couldn't skip it anymore. It was written in the author's native language and translated into English by Daniel P. Kunene. 

The Blinkards by Kobina Sekyi

The Blinkards is one of the oldest story ever written by a Ghanaian. Kobina Sekyi makes fun of the Fantes and their rapacity for foreign things including names. I have not read it so cannot say much about it. I bought this book because of its long-ago nature.

Sand Daughter by Sarah Bryant

Was in a bookshop which was about closing. The lady there waited for me to look through the books and so I bought this book together with the next two out of appreciation for her kind nature. However, I also love fell in love with the cover and the blurb. It has to do with the Crusades and all that. 

Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins

The author was shortlisted for one award (Pulitzer?) I don't remember but that was why I added it. If I am buying a book by an author I don't know I rely on her credentials: shortlisted for Pulitzer, Booker, National Book Award etc; or winner of this and that award. It helps if I don't know the author.

The Secret Destiny of America by Manly P. Hall

I love conspiracy theories. I read Jim Mars Ruled by Secrecy and enjoyed it. I have always wanted to know why this and that. I have never trusted the things I see with my eyes. I believe a lot of things we hear as disasters are planned and executed, well except the natural ones. So I purchased Manly's book for these.

For all the books I purchased only one (Chaka) was on my TBR. Again, seven (those by African authors) would be reviewed on this blog. With these, I hope the blog would become more vibrant.

Follow me, here or on twitter or even facebook, and let's have a jolly time.

Interview with Ngozi Achebe, Author of The Blacksmith's Daughter

Today, I interview Dr. Ngozi Achebe, a Medical Practitioner, a mother and an author. Dr Achebe's novelist first novel, The Blacksmith Daughter has just been published. 

This interview is the last of six-interviews I scheduled with six new authors from three different countries. It started with Tendai Huchu (Zimbabwe), Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond (Ghana), Osundolire Ifelanwa, Myne Whitman (both from Nigeria) and Bryony Rheams (Zimbabwe). However, I also interviewed Fred McBagonluri (Ghana) along the line.

Can you tell us something about yourself?

I'm a medical doctor and a mother of two. I currently live in the States where I practice medicine and also write. Onaedo is my first published book.

When did you begin your literary writings?

As a child, especially growing up around people that wrote a lot and read a lot.

Which books did you find yourself reading whilst growing up and which are you currently reading?

I read quite a variety of books growing up. I was lucky that way. Everything from Agatha Christie to Flora Nwapa to Kofi Awoonor to Ngaio Marsh to Ernest Hemingway were in my father's or Uncle John's library and were in my repertoire. I loved crime writers and whodunits.

How do you combine your medical practice with your writing?

If you are interested enough in something you'll make the time. I'm passionate about my writing as I am about medicine and I'm truly lucky to be able to be able to do both.

Your choice of genre, Historical Fiction, has not been widely written about by Africans novelists. Are you writing for a niche market? And would future works follow suit?

I hope historical fiction will not be a niche market in Africa. I think we should be interested in our history and in telling it ourselves instead of letting others tell it for us. I will write of other things that interest me and also hope that it will interest others.

What particularly motivated you to write Blacksmith's Daughter? And what motivates you to write in general?

I wrote Onaedo because I came across an interesting story that I felt needed to be told and luckily I found an audience. I like books, even fictional ones, to tell me something new I didn't know before or something familiar told in a new way.

How does having prominent writers in your family affected and/or influenced your writings?

It has been positive because I have in-built role models- luckily for me.

More often e find that if a family member creates a following for himself or herself in an area, it becomes difficult for other relations to command a unique following without that person being linked to his or her primogenitor. Have people compared you with Chinua Achebe? And if yes how do you take it?

I have had one or two favorable comparisons to my uncle Chinua Achebe and I have been extremely flattered because being compared to him in any way at all is like being compared to Shakespeare or similar giants or legends of literature. It has made me try even harder to improve my craft and hopefully continue to create my own personal style.

What difference are you bringing to the Nigerian (African and World) Literature?

The love of history and an inquiring mind; to begin to ask questions about the past. History by definition is the past but it is always relevant to the present in unexpected ways.

What do you intend to achieve with your writing?

To entertain, to inform and hopefully to change lives. For every writer the emphasis is different. 

Which writing style are you comfortable with and which do you find challenging?

The narrative style is what I used for Onaedo. I will try something different maybe in my next book.

How difficult was it for you to become published?

Quite difficult but I persevered. I had faith in my story.

Tell us something about your book, Onaedo: The Blacksmith's Daughter?

It is set along the West African coast at the time of Portuguese exploration and tells the story of those early interactions and how things went so badly wrong.

How did you feel when you saw your name on the cover of the book?

Very excited and grateful.

Where could one get your book to buy, within and outside Nigeria?

In the US, it is in all the bookstores, Barnes and Noble, Borders etc. You can also order it online. In UK and Canada for now it is only online but is making its way into bookstores. In Nigeria, it will be available on the November 5, 2010 and for the rest of Africa in a month or two after that.

Any work in progress?

Yes. I'm hoping it will be out towards end of next year.

Is there anything you would want your readers to know?

I want to thank the ones who have read it and offered their opinion, whether good, bad, or ugly. All is appreciated. And for those who haven't, here's to hoping they do.

Thank you for your time

The pleasure is mine. Thank you.