"Opanyin Poku stood up. 'I have heard. Am I the only one to know this story?'
Kayo shook his head while washing his hands in the bowl on the table. 'I have told you so that you can let the story get to those who need to know.'
from Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes (Vintage, Random House 2010)
Nii Ayikwei Parkes *1974
Over the years I befriended some people with a profession you don't usually meet in person, for example an Inuitologist. And, of lately, a pineapple farmer, indeed a Dutch pineapple farmer - actually living and working in Ghana. And since I am into literature, I tried to remember if I knew any author from Ghana. And sure I do: I recalled Nii Ayikwei Parkes in conversation with David Van Reybrouck at the WritersUnlimited literature festival (click here) in Den Haag this year! And while I did some research on Nii Ayikwei and his background I realised that there is a circle closing - enough reason to do another exception and present this month a male author on this blog.
And this circle started some odd 25 years ago in Hamburg. I was studying American Literature, focusing on Afro-American literature. I was reading books by Alice Walker and Toni Morrison (the better known), Ann Petry and Paule Marshall (the lesser known) and, my most favourite author, Zora Neale Hurston.
I was (and luckily still am) a curious one and always open to new styles in literature, always taking "the [road] less traveled by" (RF). So, when I came across an event which introduced some 'dub poets', I grew curious. And here, there were these two boys from the UK coming over to Hamburg to present their poetry in a sort 'slam session'. That's how I met Lemn Sissey (and Martin Glynn) and learned about 'musical' poetry (read the poem aloud and get into its rhythm). But I also learned about his struggle with life as a Black person in Britain ("British? Black and beautiful/Check it out my friend we're radical..."), with a social system hindering his mother to get back into contact with him for years. Beautifully mastered poems collected in his first publication with its telling title: Tender Fingers in a Clenched Fist (Bogle L'Ouverture Publications, 1988).
Now, you probably ask yourself, where is the connection to Ghanaian writer Nii Ayikwei Parkes?
Well, Nii Ayikwei is a writer in its broader sense. And he started with poetry to begin with. And, and here comes the missing link, both Lemn Sissey and Nii Ayikwei Parkes were members of Commonword, an initiative in Manchester to help new writers develop their passion. And it certainly helps: both are well known performing poetry artists and I wonder if it wasn't for poetry that made Lemn Sissey 'reach for the stars', being lately elected chancellor of the University of Manchester. I trust strongly in the possibility that poetry can do these things!
Anyway, as mentioned Nii Ayikwei started with poetry - and he started strong: he was writer-in-residence, artist-in-residence, poet-in-residence in the UK and USA, attended various poetry festivals all over the world and is one of the youngest living writers featured in the "Poems on the Underground" programme in London with his poem "Tin Roof" (you can purchase the poster here). He started his own publishing company flipped eye publishing when he realised that his poetry wouldn't be sold if not published in the UK. The list continues with two CDs with spoken-word poetry (Incredible Blues & Nocturne of Phrase; click here to get to Spotify), several chapbooks on poetry and short stories published in various magazines, just to name some. From his second fiction manuscript, Afterbirth, an excerpt is featured in the New Writing 15 anthology published by Granta (2007). And getting back to the literature festival in Den Haag again, you can listen to some beautiful poems read by himself (besides David Grossman, Jennifer Clement and Stefan Hertmans) at Poets in the House. In 2007, Nii Ayikwei received the Arts Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana Award for Poetry and in 2010 the Michael Marks Poetry Award and his debut novel Tail of the Blue Bird (2009) was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2010 and awarded with the Prix Mahogany in 2014 for its French translation by Sika Fakambi.
The novel is another welcoming new style of original writing: an honest depiction of life in Ghana with a truthful vocabulary giving you the right touch of the place. An honest novel with a main character in a torn country. A country torn between traditions of honouring the old and wise, while being corrupted by money and power. And the big question of: how far do you go along with a political system? How much will you compromise to be able to do the work you are trained in and love? How much do you go along with structures of power and corruption to live an easy life and enjoy some comfort?
Next to this political level of the 'outer' story, the inner story focuses on the inherent level of a story: why do we tell stories at all? What's the use of it? Maybe we find an answer in the book itself:
"The hunter sat up and took the last piece of meat from his bowl. 'Hmm. What more is there to say? That is the story. Like all stories, it is a story about forgetting for if we didn't forget there would be no mistakes and there would be no stories.'"
A mythical story set in the harsh reality of Ghana. A country in the grip of power structures, disrespect and humiliation of its people with some hope that the people will not submit (so it is more than a 'detective story' as mentioned in Dutch reviews).
And were is Nii Ayikwei now actually from? He was born in the UK while his parents from Ghana studied there, but grew up in Ghana when they returned. He, himself, returned again to the UK to study at the Metropolitan University in Manchester - and that is when I got curious and the circle started turning...
RT = Robert Frost, excerpt from his poem "The Road Not Taken"
And this circle started some odd 25 years ago in Hamburg. I was studying American Literature, focusing on Afro-American literature. I was reading books by Alice Walker and Toni Morrison (the better known), Ann Petry and Paule Marshall (the lesser known) and, my most favourite author, Zora Neale Hurston. I was (and luckily still am) a curious one and always open to new styles in literature, always taking "the [road] less traveled by" (RF). So, when I came across an event which introduced some 'dub poets', I grew curious. And here, there were these two boys from the UK coming over to Hamburg to present their poetry in a sort 'slam session'. That's how I met Lemn Sissey (and Martin Glynn) and learned about 'musical' poetry (read the poem aloud and get into its rhythm). But I also learned about his struggle with life as a Black person in Britain ("British? Black and beautiful/Check it out my friend we're radical..."), with a social system hindering his mother to get back into contact with him for years. Beautifully mastered poems collected in his first publication with its telling title: Tender Fingers in a Clenched Fist (Bogle L'Ouverture Publications, 1988).
Now, you probably ask yourself, where is the connection to Ghanaian writer Nii Ayikwei Parkes?
Well, Nii Ayikwei is a writer in its broader sense. And he started with poetry to begin with. And, and here comes the missing link, both Lemn Sissey and Nii Ayikwei Parkes were members of Commonword, an initiative in Manchester to help new writers develop their passion. And it certainly helps: both are well known performing poetry artists and I wonder if it wasn't for poetry that made Lemn Sissey 'reach for the stars', being lately elected chancellor of the University of Manchester. I trust strongly in the possibility that poetry can do these things!
Anyway, as mentioned Nii Ayikwei started with poetry - and he started strong: he was writer-in-residence, artist-in-residence, poet-in-residence in the UK and USA, attended various poetry festivals all over the world and is one of the youngest living writers featured in the "Poems on the Underground" programme in London with his poem "Tin Roof" (you can purchase the poster here). He started his own publishing company flipped eye publishing when he realised that his poetry wouldn't be sold if not published in the UK. The list continues with two CDs with spoken-word poetry (Incredible Blues & Nocturne of Phrase; click here to get to Spotify), several chapbooks on poetry and short stories published in various magazines, just to name some. From his second fiction manuscript, Afterbirth, an excerpt is featured in the New Writing 15 anthology published by Granta (2007). And getting back to the literature festival in Den Haag again, you can listen to some beautiful poems read by himself (besides David Grossman, Jennifer Clement and Stefan Hertmans) at Poets in the House. In 2007, Nii Ayikwei received the Arts Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana Award for Poetry and in 2010 the Michael Marks Poetry Award and his debut novel Tail of the Blue Bird (2009) was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2010 and awarded with the Prix Mahogany in 2014 for its French translation by Sika Fakambi.
The novel is another welcoming new style of original writing: an honest depiction of life in Ghana with a truthful vocabulary giving you the right touch of the place. An honest novel with a main character in a torn country. A country torn between traditions of honouring the old and wise, while being corrupted by money and power. And the big question of: how far do you go along with a political system? How much will you compromise to be able to do the work you are trained in and love? How much do you go along with structures of power and corruption to live an easy life and enjoy some comfort? Next to this political level of the 'outer' story, the inner story focuses on the inherent level of a story: why do we tell stories at all? What's the use of it? Maybe we find an answer in the book itself:
"The hunter sat up and took the last piece of meat from his bowl. 'Hmm. What more is there to say? That is the story. Like all stories, it is a story about forgetting for if we didn't forget there would be no mistakes and there would be no stories.'"
A mythical story set in the harsh reality of Ghana. A country in the grip of power structures, disrespect and humiliation of its people with some hope that the people will not submit (so it is more than a 'detective story' as mentioned in Dutch reviews).
And were is Nii Ayikwei now actually from? He was born in the UK while his parents from Ghana studied there, but grew up in Ghana when they returned. He, himself, returned again to the UK to study at the Metropolitan University in Manchester - and that is when I got curious and the circle started turning...
RT = Robert Frost, excerpt from his poem "The Road Not Taken"
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