Sunday 15 April 2012

Reading and Learning in Accra, Ghana

Here I am recording the text of my book, The Boy from the Sun, for multi-TV in Accra, Ghana. Esi, who showed up for my workshop invited me to do a reading. I supplied the images, which I had on my laptop. Although the reading was something I should get paid for, I was willing to do this one time donation of my work as a philanthropic good cause.
Below, Christine (the owner of the Nabuku Foundations cafe, and Hiroko cook up a storm for us: Dr. Benjamin Sperry (historian at U of G), Dr. Edem Dzregah (English prof. at U of G, who supplied me with great intel about trickster stories), Manu Herbstein (Commonwealth Prize winner for his extensive novel, Ama, and very knowledgeable about the slave trade and culture in Africa) and Manjit Chodha (an artist and auditor directorate who is looking into corruption and policy solutions on campus). I managed to swerve the conversation at the dinner table to topics of interest, primarily the slave trade and its effects on Africa. We covered all sorts of related topics and it was fascinating how people's backgrounds and professional studies inter-related. These types of conversations happened often and was a great learning experience for me. We were all eager and interested in the differing viewpoints. The great food Hiroko prepared was a special delight that kept us at the table for long while.