A blog return sparked by "Americanah"

It was something in Chimamanda Adiche's Americanah that got me back on my blog. It was not the fact that the main character in that glorious book had a blog. After all, my own blog is but a mere collection of my ramblings while her posts were carefully crafted witty observations about race in America. It was rather something about the storyline and suddenly me feeling the need to share beyond the Twittersphere. I am still reading it but I find Americanah so compelling because it tells a story I can relate to on so many levels. In a nutshell, it tells the story of an African who went to college in the US, stayed for some years and made a return back to the continent. Interestingly, I also embarked on my American adventure roughly around the same time as the main character. I never stayed as long and did not actually return to the country from which I had first embarked on my journey. I digress. I started this blog back in 2005 because I was in need of some form of escape from the stress of my master's programme. I started blogging again in 2008 because I was need of some escape from a stressful real-life situation. As the years rolled by, work and a PhD meant I began to blog less and less. Ironically, there was little time to be a procrastinator and of course I was not even in Accra.

  

So here I am back in Accra. Being back in the city I call home and with that initial spark from Americanah, I find myself back rambling....even if it is briefly.  

GLO Literary Event in Accra- *Strictly by Invitation*

The Nigerian telecommunication giant, Globacom Limited,  which  touts itself as "Africa's fastest growing telecommunications company" is on  the brink of storming Ghana. Well, I should add that they have been on this very brink for a while now! 'Glo' as the company is called, is probably one of the most advertised companies  in Ghana that does not actually sell any products on the Ghanaian market...

Despite the lack of availability of Glo products, they are really making their presence in Ghana felt. Apparently, they are a major sponsor of the Ghanaian premier football league and lately, eye-catching Glo billboards are splashed across town featuring some popular Ghanaian celebrities endorsing Glo. Speaking of popular, there's one woman in the billboards I had never heard of and at least 3 different people have asked me who she is. Her name starts with an 'S'. Any clues anyone?

This past week, Glo caught my attention once again. This time, the  Thursday edition of the Daily Graphic newspaper had a full-page advert about an  Evening with Wole Soyinka & Ghanaian Literary Giants with performances by the Senegalese great Youssou N'dour and many others. Sounded tantalizing to me.

The Glo Advert 

Some years ago, I had the privilege of partaking in an evening with Wole Soyinka at my undergraduate college. I was held spell-bound by this African luminary with his unapologetic views on African governance, corruption and literature. At the end of the evening, when I had the perfect opportunity to approach Wole Soyinka to gush about the genius of the poem Telephone Conversation or how I got to play Sidi in our English class production of the Lion and the Jewel, I literally froze in my seat.

The Glo evening promised to combine the literary prowess of Soyinka with his Ghanaian counterparts such as Atukwei Okai and Ama Atta Aidoo. Perhaps it would also be an opportunity to (think about) approaching the literary giant for an autograph. As my mind drifted off to the happy reunion, I failed to see the small print at the bottom of the advert with the curious proviso "Strictly by invitation". I say 'curious' because I cannot understand why Glo or any other company would go through all the trouble of publicizing an event that was already closed to the public? Can it really count as a Glo publicity gambit?

Luckily, fellow Ghanablogging  blogger Golda was one of the privileged invitees. I cannot wait to read her blog posts on the event. In the meantime, I'm Glo-ing green with envy!

Harmattan Rain: A Unique Phenomenon

Some weeks ago there was some media buzz in Ghana surrounding the launch of a debut novel from a young Ghanaian writer named Ayesha Harruna Attah. The book was entitled Harmattan Rain which is an interesting oxymoron since rain during the Harmattan season is a unique occurrence. From what I heard on one of the radio stations, it chronicles the lives of 3 generations of Ghanaian women from before independence. I made a mental note to look for the book at some point in the future. However, the buzz around it continued and fellow Ghanablogger Kajsa highlighted it in a recent posting. Indeed, I became more curious. Finally, a tweet from my undergraduate college about Harmattan Rain virtually put me in my car bound straight for the Silverbird Bookshop in search of my copy. As it turns out, the author happened to attend my undergraduate alma mater Mount Holyoke College. Our times at MHC never overlapped since she was a member of class of 2005 and I course graduated erm...closer to the turn of the decade (*yikes*).

Although I just started reading Harmattan Rain a few days ago, I'm already hooked. It is beautifully crafted, vivid and entertaining and I can't help but be amazed that this is the first novel from this young writer. Oh and I'm not plugging this book because it is written by a young Ghanaian woman or because she attended the same undergraduate college as me but rather because it is refreshingly brilliant.