Search results for ""Author Nii Ayikwei Parkes""
Peepal Tree Press Ltd Azucar: a novel
Azúcar is a novel about belonging in a world where all things are on the move: people, ideas, foods and not least music. Oswald Kole Osabutey Jnr, henceforth Yunior, leaves his family in Accra to travel to the mythical Caribbean island of Fumaz where the revolutionary philosophy of peopleism just about keeps its flame alive against the forces of an old-style command centre political bureaucracy and a stifling trade blockade from the big imperialist neighbour to the North. Yunior brings the knowledge of the scientist, the skills of a farmer and the heart and invention of a musician to his life in Fumaz. As scientist, he must find some way of rescuing the island’s famed sweet rice industry from collapse; as a farmer, he sees how much of his West African food has journeyed across the Atlantic to make the island’s unique cuisine; as musician he becomes part of the spirit that puts the island on the world stage, out of all proportion to its size. This is a novel of ideas – how much is accidental in the world? How much can be planned? It has much to say about the impact of colonialism on the fragile ecology of the island – but it is the pursuit of love and the tragedy of death, the interweaving of moments of harmony and moments of conflict and the motives of vividly drawn characters that are the drivers of this sometimes zany narrative. And there is always the texture of the language to enjoy in a book whose prose is as flowing, elegant and heartfelt as the music that moves freely back and forth across the seas between Africa and the Caribbean.
£10.99
Vintage Publishing Tail of the Blue Bird
'A delightful book that combines the basic tug of the whodunit with the more elegant pleasures of the literary novel' Independent Sonokrom, a village in the Ghanaian hinterland, has not changed for hundreds of years. Here, the men and women speak the language of the forest, drink aphrodisiacs with their palm wine and walk alongside the spirits of their ancestors. The discovery of sinister remains - possibly human, definitely 'evil' - and the disappearance of a local man brings the intrusion of the city in the form of Kayo, a young forensic pathologist convinced that scientific logic can shatter even the most inexplicable of mysteries.As old and new worlds clash and clasp, and Kayo and his sidekick, Constable Garba, delve deeper into the case, they discover a truth that leaves scientific explanations far behind.
£9.99
Penguin Random House Children's UK Tales from Africa
A collection of hugely entertaining stories, drawn from the rich folklore of many countries throughout Africa, and brought sparklingly to life with humour and rhyme by Ghanaian author, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, writing under the name used for his children's work, K. P. Kojo. Find out how selfish Lion gets his comeuppance, go to a Frog wedding in the Sky Kingdom, discover the days when the earth's creatures were all mixed up and much more in tales which reflect the very best and the very worst of human nature.Includes endnotes with a glossary, additional information, and activities that children can do to explore the stories further.'Needs to be three times as long and sitting on a shelf in every school library' - Mark Haddon
£8.42