Month: February 2013

Book matters during January 2013

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I completed five books: four fiction and one non-fiction, only one female author though, which is definitely unusual for me. One of the books was by a diasporan African, and another was by an African-American

  • The Sisters brothers, by Patric DeWitt [shorlisted for the Booker prize in 2011; a rather unusual Western with two killers as the main characters!]
  • Open city, by Teju Cole [read for Accra Book Club. I don’t think anyone present at the discussion liked the main character, and several of us found the lack of a resolution rather irritating, though we did like the actual writing
  • The omnivore’s dilemma, by Michael Pollan [I love reading about food, and this book definitely fit the bill]
  • The amateur spy, by Dan Fesperman [light reading, though I did wonder whether the main character was indeed an amateur]
  • The complete short stories, by Zora Neale Hurston [a new author for me. I found some of the language quite difficult at times]

I did buy six physical books – from Vidya Bookstore, and EPP at Legon: two non-fiction and four fiction. I also got two autographed books as presents from my daughter, plus four on my Kindle from my sister.  Nothing like a few books to liven up the New Year

I only wish that my reading would keep up with my buying.

Only one book event during the month, which I have already talked about – and yes, eventually I did get a copy of Kofi Annan’s book, Interventions.

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Ghana conference announcements

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It is interesting that once again I have come across announcements for two academic conferences here in Ghana via an external list – H-NET-WEST-AFRICA

Of course I immediately read through each of the postings.  In one case, I looked at the website for the conference, and in the other sent off an email for more information.

The first conference is on African women writers – definitely a subject dear to my heart, and is happening in the first part of the year. “Yari Yari Ntoaso” is taking place in Accra, 16-19 May 2013.

More details are available from http://africanastudies.as.nyu.edu/object/Yari-2013-Ghana.html

The other conference is on African studies, and is being hosted at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, 24 – 26 October 2013. No website for this one – well, OK, it is just a call for papers, but still…

Contact details are as follows: Conference Coordinator, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 73, Legonm Accra,Ghana. Email iasconference@ug.edu.gh

After some follow-up then I wondered “Why are there not any local lists for such announcements?”

So far I haven’t come up with any really satisfactory answers.