Once again, the month of March is here! Ghana gained independence in March (TODAY, March 6th 1957), so I like to dedicate this month to celebrating Ghanaian excellence! As a reader of Ghanaian heritage, I enjoy discovering new Ghanaian writers and learning about our pioneer writers. If we donโt celebrate our own, who will?
The #ReadGhanaian๐ฌ๐ญ book challenge is well underway and it’s great to see lots of folks participating in the challenge of reading at least 5 books by writers of Ghanaian descent! Below is a mini collage showing a snippet of some of the Ghanaian books and writers highlighted two years ago in the GH at 60 | Our Writers & Their Books series ~
GH at 60 | Our Writers & Their Books part 1
GH at 60 | Our Writers & Their Books part 2
GH at 60 | Our Writers & Their Books part 3
While the 3-part series is not exhaustive by any means, it highlights over 80 Ghanaian writers & their books! With the plethora of Ghanaian writers and books highlighted in the series, there is no excuse if anyone claims they donโt know (m)any writers from Ghana!
Check out: #ReadGhanaian๐ฌ๐ญ: KidLit Edition
by Edem Torkornoo, founder of Booksie.
โขโขโข
Below are lit(erature) links I’ve been enjoying lately. These are links to some great short stories, poems and articles on the interwebs, showcasing Ghanaian EXCELLENCE:
-
How I Learned to Do My Own Braids โ And How It Liberated Me by Alisha Acquaye (via Teen Vogue)
I was stuck in a position where I had to learn.
- A Rainy Morning in Accra by Hakeem Adam (via Flash Fiction Ghana)
-
My Name Is Not Cool Anymore by Mohammed Nasheehu Ali (via The New York Times)
How I came to possess the name of the boxer who was once the most famous and baddest man on the planet happened by accident.
-
Slow-Cooking History by Ayesha Harruna Attah (via The New York Times)
I add the leaf of the cocoyam plant to dried mudfish, mushrooms and snails, and think of my indomitable ancestors.
- Black Sky by Maame Blue (via AFREADA)
[This story was published as the winner of the 2018 AFREADA x Africa Writes Competition. + Maame Blue is one of the 20 Black British writers who will have work published by Jacaranda Books in 2020!]
- Stank with Sweat by Nana Nyarko Boateng (via Kinna Reads)
- My Secondhand Lonely by Zoรซ Gadegbeku (via Longreads)
Raised by a single, independent mother, one young woman struggles with her familial inheritance and the relationship between self-sufficiency and social isolation.
-
The Forgotten Kingdom by Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed (via Africa is a Country)
The links between knowing history, media and political agency in northern Ghana.
- Visceral Valuation: On Realizing That I’m Wearing a Black Body by Nana Prempeh (via Anastamos, Chapman University)
African Book Addict! 