Kwei Quartey Launches Children of the Street

On July 12, 2011, Children of the Street, a new novel by the Ghanaian mystery writer and physician, Kwei Quartey, went on sale. Children of the Street is part of the Inspector Darko Dawson series. Copies could be purchased from bookshops or downloaded onto laptops, smartphones, Kindles, iPads, Kobos and other tablet devices. The first book in the series is Wife of the Gods.

Praise for Children of the Street

“Quartey cleverly hides the culprit, but the whodunit’s strength is as much in the depiction of a world largely unfamiliar to an American readership as in its playing fair…” —STARRED Publisher’s Weekly

“Searing and original and done just right . . . Inspector Darko Dawson is relentless, and I look forward to riding with him again.” —Bestselling Author Michael Connelly

“Darko Dawson, with his secret struggle to stop smoking marijuana and his son’s chronic illness, is one of the most engaging characters this reader has ever encountered. The police work, the unexpected reveal of the murderer and the motivation for the killings, and the clever interactions among characters of widely different professions and social classes will completely satisfy readers who enjoyed the first book and intrigue newcomers.” –Library Journal

“CHILDREN OF THE STREET is a fast-paced rollercoaster through Accra…” - Kate Childs

But don’t take their word for it, try it and be the judge yourself. If you absolutely hate it, let me know by replying to this email and I will email you an Amazon gift card for the amount you paid for the novel. Depending on where you buy it, it runs between $9 and $15. There is no hardcover edition this time, making it much more accessible and affordable to everyone. Most hardcovers run between $24 and $30, which is a lot to pay for a book.

Anyway, I’ll shut up now so you can get to reading, and while you’re sinking into the story, I’ll go buy some sparkling apple cider to celebrate.

Read ImageNations' interview Dr Kwei Quartey. Click here to visit the author's website.

Interview with Dr. Kwei Quartey, Author of Children of the Street

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 many people as possible. Do I have some neurotic craving for attention or some need to be admired? I don't know, and maybe I don't want to know either, but in any case the psychoanalysis is moot to me. Mystery is the genre I've loved since I was a child devouring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels. My attraction to mysteries may be just another manifestation of the same motivations that pushed me to become a physician. Every day in the life and work of a physician there's a mystery in the form of an illness the doctor must figure out in order to treat it. Perhaps I'm drawn to the challenge of deductive reasoning.

3. How many novels do you have to your credit?

In the mid-nineties I wrote a novel called Kamila, set in 1950's Algeria and published by Vantage Press, which is a subsidy publisher. That means the author pays for the editorial and printing costs, a pretty ruinous route to take since very few authors will ever break even from the sales from a subsidy publisher. They provide no marketing or distribution and leave you in debt for a long time. Maybe I'll try to put Kamila on Amazon as a kindle e-book one of these days. But moving on, my debut Inspector Darko mystery WIFE OF THE GODS was released July 2008 by a "real" publisher, Random House, and the next Darko in the series, CHILDREN OF THE STREET, comes out July 12, 2011, also from Random House.

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

I grew up in Ghana, and given its history as a British colony, the influence of British authors was strong. So in addition to Conan Doyle, I read a lot of British mysteries - Johan Creasey's Inspector West, and children's writer Enid Blyton, for example - but also some other writers like Kingsley Amis, whose book Lucky Jim is truly hilarious, Doris Lessing, James Joyce. In later secondary school, I read Achebe's Things Fall Apart as part of required reading for English Lit.

At the moment I'm reading some Swedish mysteries - no Stieg Larsson, but Henning Mankel. I like police procedurals. The Darko Dawson series are police procedurals.

5. Which writers have influenced your writing?

I can't point to a single influence, but I can tell you some authors whose voices I admire and only wish that some element of their skill would seep into my writing. Raymond Chandler for his marvelous single line descriptions that vividly capture a scene that I might use a whole paragraph to characterize; Both Arthur Conan Doyle and Dennis Lehane for their skill in creating a dark setting; Colin Dexter for the spine-chilling way he describes the moment when the detective realizes who the killer is, and Lynda LaPlante for her skillful interview scenes.

6. Are you targeting a niche market?

Inevitably, I suppose. But mystery and crime readers remain among the largest niches there are and certainly among the most passionate and enthusiastic.

7. How far have you been received as an author, in Ghana and abroad? And is your book available in Ghana?

Reception has been gratifying and in many cases even better than I had hoped. The novel is not widely distributed in Ghana and is therefore not available except perhaps in one or two bookstores. The reason for this is that only Random House owns the English language rights. For my next novel CHILDREN OF THE STREET, the English rights will be available to Ghanaian publishers, who can then print, publish and distribute the book in Ghana.

8. What do you intend to achieve with your writing?

Recognition. And I want to see my book at airports and bookstores worldwide. I also want to make Ghana well known to the world at large.

9. How do you find the time to write? Is there a special period of the day that you write?

I take time early in the morning, on weekdays when I'm off, and on weekends. Early morning is when I create best.

10. Tell us something about your upcoming book, "Children of the Street"

It's the second in the Darko Dawson series. In this story, Darko is caught up in the dog-eat-dog world of street children and finds himself up against a diabolical murderer who is always one step ahead. This book talks about the real and serious social problem of street kids in Accra, but it brings them to life as characters, not faceless, nameless statistics.

11. Do you think that authors have an important role to play in Ghana, or is their importance dwindling?

Their importance was never greater, in my opinion. So much is happening in Ghana at economic, social and political levels, so much to write about. There's wealth of material for fiction and we need talented people to write about it. The building materials are all laid out, we just need the construction workers.

12. Are there enough writers to take over from the Ayi Kwei Armahs, Atukwei Okais, Ama Ata Aidoos?

Not that I know of, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they're waiting in the wings on the verge of surprising us.

13. What should be done to develop writers?

Creative writing classes at all levels of education, and even if that may be difficult in some cases, English classes at school should encourage English composition and story creation. I recommend national writing 

contests (when I was a kid in Ghana, I entered one sponsored by Clarks Shoes), and reading to kids is also important. There should be Saturday morning story time on the radio stations for children, and there should be serialized readings for adults of the great African fictional works, the same way the BBC has done for decades. There should be a call for literacy and writing by both government and NGOs. The same way Ghanaians have gotten hooked on religion, we want to get hooked on literature and writing.

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

Briefly elated, and then it was, "okay, enough ego - let's move on to the next stage: selling the book"

15. Any work in progress?

The next novel CHILDREN OF THE STREET is being prepared for release July 12, 2011. I have begun work on the synopsis for the third novel as well. I would actually like to put out 2 books a year, although that would mean fulltime writing and hardly any work as a doctor.

You can read more about the Dr Kwei Quartey here

Or follow him on Twitter

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.

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?

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.