• When Rain Clouds Gather (African Writers Series, AWS247)

    In the heart of rural Botswana, the poverty stricken village of Golema Mmidi is a haven to exiles from far and wide. A South African political refugee and an Englishman join forces to revolutionise the villagers traditional farming methods, but their task is fraught with hazards as the pressures of tradition, opposition from the local chief and the unrelenting climate threaten to divide and devastate the fragile community.
  • Harvest of Thorns (African Writers Series)

    The revolution that ended white minority rule in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) is seen here chiefly through the eyes of Benjamin Tichafa, a young guerrilla. He is the son of a devoutly religious couple, his father a government messenger completely subservient to his white superiors. Enraged by the treatment of blacks, a teenage Benjamin turns from his parents’ apolitical religion. After being arrested in a demonstration, he joins the revolution.

    The novel is enriched by the viewpoints of black Rhodesians who, out of fear or for economic reasons, do not fully support the struggle. The slaying of a dictatorial white farm owner dismays his foreman, whose livelihood is now threatened. The fatal beating of a woman who reluctantly informed on the guerrillas raises misgivings in Benjamin’s outfit. Though ultimately portraying the victory as worthwhile, Chinodya also shows the price paid in lives, tattered families and lost traditions. The result is a humane and penetrating look at a brutal government and a bloody revolution.

    Harvest of Thorns is a novel of great significance which will give all those who read it a greater understanding of the road along which Zimbabwe has travelled, as well as indicate many of the directions ahead.

  • Equiano’s Travels (African Writers Series, AWS10)

    Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745 in a village east of the Niger River in what is now Nigeria. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African was published in London in 1789. This is his own account of a remarkable life.

    At the age of ten he was captured by slave traders and taken to the southern states of America. He was sold to a planter in the West Indies and worked there and abroad slave ships sailing between the Caribbean and England. At the age of twenty-one he had saved enough money to buy his freedom. He visited the Mediterranean, took part in Phipps’ expedition to the Arctic in 1773 and crossed the Atlantic several times. He was an ardent member of the Movement for the Abolition of Slavery and was appointed Commissary for Stores when the freed slaves were settled in Sierra Leone.

    This abridged edition has a new introduction by Professor Ogude of the University of Benin, together with explanatory notes on the text.

  • A Question of Power (African Writers Series, AWS149)

    “Your mother was insane. If you’re not careful you’ll get insane just like your mother. Your mother was a white woman. They had to lock her up, as she was having a child by the stable boy who was a native.”

    It is never clear to Elizabeth whether the mission school principal’s cruel revelation of her origins is at the bottom of her mental breakdown. She has left South Africa with her son and is living in the village of Motabeng, the place of sand, in Botswana where there are no street lights at night. In the darkness of this country where people turn and look at her with vague curiosity as an outsider she establishes an entirely abnormal relationship with two men. A mind-bending book which takes the reader in and out of sanity.

  • Kenkey For Ewes And Other Very Short Stories

    Like a basket full of coloured beads, like a kente strip of many colours, like a xylophone that produces a thousand vibrant sounds, this collection is made up of stories as varied as the diversity represented in Ghana, from Hohoe to Hamle.

    These stories represent the budding creative spirit of the current generation of young Ghanaian writers. These new voices have become the refreshing perspective from which to consider the Ghanaian narrative in a thousand words. Or less.

    This is an anthology of hope. Never have so many young people captured the stories of our time the way this army of writers have immortalised. But beyond the greatness in the stories, Kenkey for Ewes guarantees one thrilling fact: it is a great time to be a global citizen.

  • Against the Odds: A Novel

    Young Kwaku Obeng, falsely accused of a crime, comes to Accra to seek his fortune and find a means of clearing his name.

    Homeless and penniless, virtually alone in the world, he strives against the odds in a world that owes him no favours. Will he be able to achieve his dream of becoming a medical doctor? Will his tarnished image be restored?

    Will he ever be able to go home again?

  • The Hunt

    Sackey and Nyarko had always pitched their wits against each other. When Nyarko beat Sackey at a quiz competition, Sackey sought a way of proving that he was better than his rival. The opportunity came in a quest to find the emerald stool of the Krobos. The two rivals, with their friends, set out to the first to discover this ancient stool separately. Even more, unknowing to them, Sackey and Nyarko were related.

    The Hunt

    40.00
  • Between Wars

    In a single twist of war, two sister, Enkaakye and Timaa, find their lives turned upside down. Enkaakye resiliently waits for the return from war of the one she loves. Timaa chooses to give up hope and patience, and move on with her life. The sisters’ choices lead to consequences that threaten their bond of sisterhood to its core.

    As war drums begin to beat in their community once more, will their relationship survive the imminent danger?

    Between Wars is a heartwarming story of love, loss, family, and friendship. Above all, it shows how wisdom and courage can be found in the most unexpected of places.

    Between Wars

    65.00
  • Faceless

    Street life in the slums of Accra is realistically portrayed in this socially-commited, subtle novel about four educated women who are inspired by the plight of a 14-year old girl, Fofo. As the main characters convert their library center into a practical street initiative, the novel invokes the squalor, health risks, and vicious cycles of poverty and violence that drive children to the streets and women to prostitution; and, from which, ultimately, no one in the society is free.

    Faceless

    55.00
  • The Joys of Motherhood (African Writers Series, AWS227)

    The fourth novel from the Nigerian-born writer, Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood is recognised as one of Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century in an initiative organised by the Zimbabwean International Book Fair.

    First published in 1979, The Joys of Motherhood is the story of Nnu Ego, a Nigerian woman struggling in a patriarchal society. Unable to conceive in her first marriage, Nnu is banished to Lagos where she succeeds in becoming a mother. Then, against the backdrop of World War II, Nnu must fiercely protect herself and her children when she is abandoned by her husband and her people.

    The Joys of Motherhood is a powerful commentary on polygamy, patriarchy and women’s changing roles in urban Nigeria.

  • Open and Closed: A Book of Opposites from Ghana

    Age Range: 2 – 5 years

    Learn the opposites whilst celebrating everyday life in Ghana, West Africa.

  • Jennifer Goes to the Library

    Age Range: 2 – 5  years

    Jennifer lives in Accra, Ghana. She likes to read storybooks at the Mamprobi Gale Community Library where her mother, Joyce Yeboah, works as a librarian.

  • Mumaizu and the Hippos

    Age Range: 5 – 7 years

    Mumaizu lives in Wechiau, a village in the Upper West Region of Ghana. His father, Agba Tungbani, is the head tour guide for the Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary. One day, Agba surprises Mumaizu with an invitation to see the hippos.

    The Sanctuary, established in 1998, protects approximately 20 hippos along a 40-kilometre stretch of the Black Volta River.

  • Twins Together

    Age Range: 2 – 5  years

    Four-year-old twins from a village in Ghana go about their daily lives – eating, playing, going to school, having fun with their family, etc.

    Twins Together

    30.00
  • The Library Tree: How a Canadian Woman Brought the Joy of Reading to a Generation of African Children

    “You are proof that the vision and actions of just one person can make a tremendous difference in so many lives!” — Michaelle Jean, former Governor General of Canada, following a visit to the Nima Library, November 2006

    It began one afternoon in the shade of a tree in the yard of a Canadian woman living in Ghana, West Africa. Kathy Knowles brought out a basketful of books thinking she might amuse the neighbourhood kids by reading to them.

    Over 20 years, that simple storytelling session morphed into seven large community libraries in impoverished areas of the country’s capital, support for more than 200 similar initiatives around Ghana and other African countries, and a publishing venture that produces children’s books tailor-made for the African culture.

    Kathy Knowles now runs her volunteer-based Osu Children’s Library Fund from her Winnipeg home with twice-yearly trips to Ghana. Her work promoting libraries and literacy in Africa has been recognised internationally. Her unflagging enthusiasm has created bricks-and-mortar projects and has brought the wonder of reading to thousands of children.

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