A personal list of key Ghanaian authors

I have been making a list of Ghanaian authors who do creative writing/fiction/plays/poetry and these are the ones I came up with.  It is very much a personal list, and I have read most of them.

NB:  This is work in progress, and I am more than happy to admit that I will have forgotten some people.  Most long works are available via Amazon – though sometimes it may not be the US Amazon, but the UK or Canadian one!   For short stories I have not indicated any collections, for which I do apologize in advance.

Older writers (many are deceased)

• Kobina Sekyi:  The Blinkards ( play)
• Ayi Kwei Armah:  The beautyful ones are not yet born, Two thousand seasons, The healers, Fragments (plus some literary criticism, which I have not included)
• Amu Djoleto:  The strange man, Money Galore, Hurricane of dust + some children’s books
• Efua Sutherland: Marriage of Anansewa, Edufa, Voice in the forest  – Wrote plays mostly
• Francis Selormey:  Narrow Path
• Kofi Awoonor: This earth my brother + some non-fiction
• Mawugbe, Efo Kojo:  The prison graduate .  Wrote plays mostly

Older (in age) and still active

• Ama Ata Aidoo:  Changes, Our sister Killjoy, Anowa, Dilemma of a ghost, No sweetness here, Diplomatic pounds and other stories, African love stories (ed), Angry letter in January
• Kojo Laing : Search sweet country, Woman of the aeroplanes, Big Bishop Roko and the alter gangsters, Major Gentl and the Achimota wars
• Manu Herbstein :  Ama, Brave music of a distant drum 
• Atukwei Okai: Poet
• Kofi Anyidoho : The place we call home, Praise song for the land.  Poet

More contemporary (part of Ghanaian diaspora)

• Benjamin Kwakye: The clothes of nakedness, The sun by night, The other crucifix
• Nii Ayikwei Parkes: Tail of the blue bird, The makings of you
• Mohammed Naseehu Ali : Prophet of Zongo Street and other stories
• Kwei J Quartey: Wife of the gods, Children of the street 
• Yaba Badoe :  True murder
• Marilyn Heward Mills: Cloth girl, The association of foreign spouses
• Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond: Powder necklace
• Akosua Busia:  Seasons of beento blackbird
• Lesley Lokko: Sundowners, Bitter chocolate, One secret summer, A private affair, Rich girl, poor girl.  Architect, who also writes chick lit
• Selasi Taiye : Ghana must go (To be published in 2012) + well acclaimed short stories
• Esi Edugyan:  Half-blood blues, The second life of Samuel Tyne.  Canadian, born of Ghanaian immigrants
• Glover, Boakyewaa:  Circles
• Kuukua Dzigbordi Yomekpe:  Writing memoir; creative non-fiction mostly

More contemporary (living in Ghana)

• Amma Darko:  The housemaid, Faceless, Beyond the horizon, Not without flowers
• Camynta Baezie:  The African agenda 
• G A Agambila:  Journey
• Ayesha Harruna Attah:  Harmattan rain
• Meri Nana-Ama Danquah: The black body, Willow weep for me, Shaking the tree, Becoming American.  Writes mostly non-fiction
• Farida Bedwei: Definition of a miracle
• Mamle Kabu:   writes short stories
• Franka Andoh:  writes short stories
• Alba Konadu Sumprim :  The imported Ghanaian, A place of beautiful nonsense.  Both are satirical
• Kofi Akpabli: A sense of savannah, Tickling the Ghanaian.  Writes creative non-fiction
• Nana Awere Damoah:  Tales from different tails, Excursions in my mind, Through the gates of thought

Non-Ghanaians (with close associations to Ghana)

• Ellen Banda-Aaku:  Patchwork, Wandi’s little secret.  Also writes short stories
• Fiona Leonard:  The chicken thief 
• Sarah Mussi: Door of no return, The last of the warrior kings.  Teen/children’s fiction

What do you think of this list?

Advertisement

GAWBOFEST: a very limited view

I did go to the Ghana Association of Writers Book Festival which took place on Founder’s Day, or Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday.  It was a public holiday, so had to more or less force myself to get out of the house – but in a way having no electricity was a good enough impetus.

I did not plan to attend the opening ceremony, which was supposed to start at 9am but didn’t as it was still going on when I arrived after 11am!  And in fact it ended not long after noon, with quite a packed hall listening and watching.  I gather the high point was a poetry reading by a blind student from Wa.  Oh well…

So I spent my time outside looking at the stands, and on occasion chatting with colleagues/friends about books and ther quasi-literary issues.

I did buy a few books:

• The days, by Ama Ata Aidoo (an illustrated children’s book, which I hadn’t heard of)
• Tickling the Ghanaian: encounters with contemporary culture, by Kofi Akpabli (I had heard of its launch, and was wondering where and when I would get a copy)
• The heart of old Accra (beautifully illustrated)
• Akwaaba – Welcome to Ghana: Twi for tourists, by Nana Oforiwaa Koranteng (what would be the words and phrases chosen, I wondered)

I also picked up a programme of forthcoming activities from the Writers Project of Ghana which I have to look at and promote, in my small way.

I think I might have stayed a bit longer for some of storytelling and readings, but the heavens opened, and I decided it was time to leave.

Overall impression:  GAW obviously put a lot of effort into organizing the event, and were able to get a good number of people to attend.  A good start, in my opinion.