Kofi Akpabli is a Ghanaian academic, journalist, publisher, tourism consultant and cultural activist. He is a two-time winner of the CNN Multichoice African Journalist for Arts and Culture Awards. His latest work ‘Made in Nima’ has been featured in the new Commonwealth Anthology which was published in May 2016 Safe House: Explorations into Creative Non-Fiction.
Akpabli has four books to his credit and currently works as a lecturer at Central University College in Ghana. He is a founding member of Ghana Cultural Forum and has participated in Xplore FrankfurtRheinemann 2012, Tallberg Forum, Sweden 2011, Berlin Art Festival 2010 and the Düsseldorf Art Preview 2010.
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Joy: A Biography of Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu
“At just 18 months of age, in 1959, Henrietta overcame the first of a lifetime of recurring challenges. One day she was rushed to a private hospital in Kumasi by her mother, feverish and weak. Her pulse was faint and everyone was scared. The doctor scolded Elizabeth for waiting for so long before bringing Henrietta to the hospital.
“This is a hopeless case,” the doctor said to the distraught mother and asked back home with her child. Even after being dismissed from the hospital, Mama Elizabeth still remained on the premises, imploring; her arms firmly around her sick baby. Evidently out of pity, the doctor said, ‘Okay, I’m going to cut you a deal. Go home with the child. If tomorrow morning comes and she is still alive, bring her for treatment.’”
This biography vividly captures how that 18-month-old baby survived, persevered and rose to become a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana.
Joy is a captivating account of three generations committed to the pursuit of excellence community and public service. It is the testimony of the nurturing powers of education. It is the testimony of a woman whose life epitomises fairness, family and faith.
“This book offers a lot more than a record of scholarly excellence and legal brilliance. In elegant prose, the author succeeds in combining these illuminating historical essays with a perceptive sociological case study of the ‘middle class’ in Ghana. On all counts. Prof. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu’s biography is a literary treasure.” − Nana Prof. SKB Asante, Omanhene of Asante Asokore and Past President of Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences
₵200.00 – ₵250.00Joy: A Biography of Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu
₵200.00 – ₵250.00 -
The Prince and the Slave – A Play
This historic, award-winning play is set in Wakumey, a kingdom on the West African Coast in the late 18th century. The drama explores the internal tensions and disruptions that rock a community in an era when dealing in live human cargo was the order of the day. “How can there be a kingdom without slaves?” is the mantra for King Dogali and his council of elders. However, when romance sneaks in through a most inappropriate quarter, the very centre of royal power comes face-to-face with the visceral effects of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.The Prince and the Slave reveals not only the inner workings of the practice but also the psychology of both the slave raider and the enslaved.The Prince and the Slave has been performed at Accra, Cape Coast, Kumasi and a few universities and secondary schools across Ghana.₵50.00 -
Tickling the Ghanaian: Encounters with Contemporary Culture
A book on contemporary Ghanaian culture and heritage.
In this book, Kofi Akpabli seeks to unravel what at all tickles the Ghanaian. Is it Sunday afternoon’s after church Omo Tuo and beer, or when Ghana is ‘beating’ its arch-rivals in sports, Nigeria?
Articles in this book include the two that won him the CNN/Multichoice Journalist Award for Arts and Culture back to back in 2010 and 2011, becoming the first journalist, in the award’s history, to have won one category back to back: The Serious Business of Soup in Ghana and What is Right with Akpeteshie.
Following his usual humorous style of writing, Tickling the Ghanaian promises to be funny and educating. Kofi takes a different view of what we have perceived as always to be archaic. Kofi has eyes of details and tells his story the best way it could possibly be told.
₵150.00 -
A Sense of Savannah: Tales of a Friendly Walk through Northern Ghana
Caution: For fear of emitting loud, embarrassing laughs, do not read this book in public.
When Kofi Akpabli was posted to the northern border town of Paga to do his national service, he thought it was just going to be another ‘national suffering’. But when he encountered love at first sight with the landscape and the people, he was soon to realise that something close to destiny tied him to the place.
The author was welcomed to a world refreshingly different from the back streets of Accra and Cape Coast. He discovered the smell of dawadawa, the taste of pito and the mystery of border towns. Over a period of seven years, Kofi criss-crossed the Upper East, Upper West and the Northern Regions.
His real life adventures have been published in a cross-section of Ghanaian newspapers. By popular request, here comes A Sense of Savannah, a witty collection of travel tales that best express the character of Ghana’s savannah setting. While the entertaining narratives are guaranteed to interest a wide range of readers, what makes A Sense of Savannah worth reading is how the author generously dishes out well-researched facts and humour in equal measure.
As story after story shows, Kofi is always on the road:
– In Wa, he is ‘arrested’ and forced to drink beer without end on a Sunday morning
– In Bolgatanga, his well-shirted body gets sprayed with goat urine from the top of a bus
– In Tamale, during curfew hours and against the background of Wangara music, he spends the night on hard, cold asphalt
– And on a busy market day in Navrongo, he is told, ‘you have no conscience!’
Relax, grab a seat and let A Sense of Savannah drive you through the rather interesting northern half of Ghana.
₵120.00 -
Destiny and Politics: A Biography of Hon. Samuel Sallas-Mensah
From a humble beginning as the son of a farmer in a relatively small town, Hon. Samuel Sallas-Mensah, four terms MP for Upper West Akim would perhaps have ended up as a farmer too. In those days, children took after their parents’ trades. Sallas got the chance to go to America and the entire course of his life changed. After a distinguished career in accountancy in the US and later in Nigeria, destiny led his way once more but this time to the country of his birth, Ghana, where eventually, a new career window opened in his life – politics.
As a Member of the Consultative Assembly his accounting and financial acumen were in evidence as he actively contributed to the District Assembly Common Fund. And as a Member of Parliament he was instrumental in instituting the live television coverage of the sitting of the Public Accounts Committee – legacies to the nation that survive today.
In this compelling biography the reader come face-to-face with this influential man of few words who is famed to have friends and access to both sides of the Ghanaian political divide. But what would Sallas be remembered for most, a politician, a chartered accountant or family man? More importantly, where else will destiny lead him to?
“Crispy-delicious narratives, refreshingly-garnished insights. This fascinating biography of a patriot never finishes astonishing you with the twists and turns. But it is the authoritative revelations about a nation and its people that makes this book destined to be relevant to the politics of Ghana.” ~ Business & Financial Times
₵45.00