Yari Yari Ntoaso: Day 2, GhanaLit, YA Lit, Emerging Writers and Readings!

The first day of Yari Yari Ntoaso was simply amazing. I hope to post pictures and a summary of the day’s events over the weekend.

Here’s the schedule for today:

Friday, 17 MAY

9:00am-5:00pm: Registration

9:00am-5:00pm: Book Tables & Vendors

9:30-11:00am: Roundtable: Getting the Work out (for emerging authors)

Writers, editors, and administrators discuss the many venues through which emerging authors can put their work in front of readers.

Doreen Baingana (Uganda); Latasha N Nevada Diggs (USA); Kadija George (Sierra Leone/UK); Nana Ayebia Clarke (Ghana/UK); Martin Egblewogbe (Ghana)

Moderator: Tara Betts (USA)

11:00am-12:15pm: Ghanaian Writers & Scholars in Conversation

Authors and scholars discuss their work and the current literary scenes in Ghana.

Amma Darko (Ghana); Faith Ben-Daniels (Ghana); Ruby Yayra Goka (Ghana); Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana); Demay Ackah-Yensu

Moderator: Doris Dartey

12:15-1:30pm – Lunch – Visit the book tables and vendors, and network!

1:30-1:45pm – Author Portrait Slide Show Presentation: “Her Word as Witness: Women Writers of the African Diaspora” – African Premiere!

Laylah Amatullah Barrayn (USA)

2:00-3:15pm: African & Diaspora Children’s & Young Adult Literature, Now & in the Future

Deborah Ahenkorah (Ghana), Ayo Ayoola-Amele (Ghana); Akachi Ezeigbo (Nigeria), Michelle Martin & Rachelle Washington (USA), Esi Sutherland-Addy (Ghana)

3:30-4:45pm: Authors & Action

How authors respond to environmental and man-made disasters.

Angelique Nixon (Bahamas/USA); Tess Onwueme (Nigeria); Hermine Pinson (USA); Eintou Pearl Springer (Trinidad & Tobago); Dzodzi Tsikata (Ghana)

Moderator: Ira Dworkin (USA/Egypt)

5:00-6:30pm: Tribute to the Life, Writing, & Activism of Jayne Cortez (1934-2012)

7-8:30: Pan-African Writers Association and Ghana Association of Writers Reception, Reading & Open Mic

At PAWA House; address: Roman Road, Roman Ridge, Accra

Hosted by PAWA Secretary General Atukwei Okai, Featuring Natalia Molebatsi, Angelique V. Nixon, Hermine Pinson, & Ghanaian authors TBA

Yari Yari Ntoaso Begins Today, Angela Davis to Speak at Opening Plenary

Angela Davis

Yari Yari Ntoaso begins today!

I have included the schedule of today’s events below.  There are two workshops in the morning, a panel and the opening plenary in the afternoon.  The translator, writer and human rights campaigner Wangui wa Goro will run a translation workshop.  She’s also a Caine Prize Council Member.  She translated Veronique Tadjo’s As the Crow Flies  from the French to English and has a short story in African Love Stories (links are to my reviews).

There are two performance art workshops led by Gabrielle Civil and Wura-Natasha Ogunji.  Gabrielle Civil (http://www.gabriellecivil.com/) is a poet and a conceptual and performance artist who has produced numerous performance art works in the United States.  Wura-Natasha Ogunji is a visual and performance artist who uses her body to explore movement.  Her work, among other themes, explores the presence of women in public spaces.  See writeup of Ogunji here.

I’m highlighting these workshops because learning opporutnities on translation and performance art are rare in Ghana.  Do come early if you are interested for space is limited.

A panel on identity and creativity will be followed by the Opening Plenary, where the writer, activist, scholar, socialist and feminist Angela Davis will speak. We are all very excited about Angela Davis in Ghana!

This is just what’s on offer on the first day of Yari Yari Ntoaso.  Admission to all events is free.  Do drop by.

The hashtag is #YariYari.  The afternoon panel and Opening Plenary will be livestreamed and I will update with the address soon.

Here is the schedule for today’s events:

Yari Yari NTOASO: Continuing the Dialogue

Schedule of Panels, Workshops, Readings, Performances & Film

Unless otherwise noted, all events will be held at

College of Physicians and Surgeons

No. 54 Independence Avenue, Near Ridge Roundabout

Thursday, 16 MAY 2013

 10:00am-4:30:  Registration

 10:00am-4:30pm:  Book Tables & Vendors

 10:30-11:00:  Welcome & Orientation

Welcome from representatives of the conference sponsors and collaborating organizations

 11:00-1:00pm:  Master Translation Class This class is first-come, first-served; please arrive a few minutes early.  Led by Wangui wa Goro (Kenya)

 1:00-3:00pm:  Performance Art Workshops Workshops are first-come, first-served; please arrive a few minutes early.   Led by Gabrielle Civil (USA/Haiti) and Wura-Natasha Ogunji (Nigeria/USA)

3:15-4:30pm – Identity & Creativity

How authors’ and characters’ identities affect the creative process.

Gladys Francis (Guadeloupe); Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro (Puerto Rico); Mamle Kabu (Ghana); Cheryl Sterling (USA); Helen Yitah (Ghana)

4:45-6:15pm – Opening Plenary

Greetings & remarks from representatives of The Republic of Ghana,  Conference Organizers and Writers’ organizations

Plenary Speakers include: Hon. Nana Oye Lithur (Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection/Ghana),  Angela Davis (USA), Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana), Atukwei Okai (Ghana), Kwasi Gyan Appenteng (Ghana) and Martin Egblewogbe (Ghana)

6:30-8:00pm – Opening Reception Sponsored by NYU Accra

 8:00-9:00pm – Open Mike 

 

21 Days/21 Poems: ‘Stank with Sweat’ by Nana Nyarko Boateng

One day last week, around 1am,  Nana Nyarko Boateng (@mababiom), tweeted a link to a poem that she’d just posted on her blog, beyond tales.  I read and really liked it.  But it was 1am and I was a bit fuzzy in the head.  I’ve since gone back and confirmed my initial impression of the poem.

Nana Nyarko is a Ghanaian writer and poet.  She’s also a good friend.  You’ve got to know that the rawness of the title and the vulnerability running through a poem about strength are utterly characteristic of Nana Nyarko!

I’ve created another theme for Another 21 Days/21 Poems, the April celebration that’s made its way into May.  Today is ‘a poem I just read and loved’.

Stank with Sweat

The brave face
I wear is never washed
It stinks with sweat
my mother’s and mine
She taught me how to put it on
to fit my wobbly bones
to be the face that you would know
My brave face
has a smile
it lasts for thirty seconds
and plays back after a minute
My brave face
belongs to my family
I owe it to them
and to my children
the ones I planned to have with you
But you think I do not feel
You should see my eyes buttoned on
my brave face
my brows frown like a powerless child
to remind you that
I am tough
I can show you my face now
how it’s stained with blood
And you would realize
my brave face is what you want to love

- by Nana Nyarko Boateng

with permission from the poet

Coming Up in May 2013

I know we say and feel this keenly every year but 2013 is really flying.  It’s already May, which means that Yari Yari Ntoaso is here! and my life just got even more hectic.  Here are my blogging and reading plans for this month:

• I did not complete Another 21 Days/21 Poems , which celebrated (US) National Poetry Month, last month.  I will continue the series in May. I’ve done this before and May didn’t seem bothered by the imposition.
• Features on a number of the writers who will be presenting at Yari Yari Ntoaso
• Reading – I’ve just finished, and enjoyed, Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi.  I will post a review later this month.  I’ll be re-reading some of the books that I read in 2012 and didn’t have the time to review.   I think it important, for various reasons, to record my thoughts on them. I also have waiting in the wings two books by Sefi Atta, and Children of the Street, an Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery, by Kwei Quartey
• I will start posting reviews in the last week of May.  But if it proves too much, then reviews will commence in June.

That’s it for me.  What are your reading plans for this May?

Yari Yari Ntoaso: Continuing the Dialogue – An International Conference on Literature by Women of African Ancestry

Yari Yari Ntoaso happens in Accra from May 16-19, 2013 at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.  I’ll be blogging about the participants next week.  But for now, here is a press release on the conference.

——-

The Organization of Women Writers of Africa (OWWA) and New York University (NYU), in collaboration with Ghana-based Mbaasem Foundation and the Spanish Fundación Mujeres por África (Women for Africa Foundation), will present Yari Yari Ntoaso: Continuing the Dialogue – An International Conference on Literature by Women of African Ancestry. This major conference will put writers, critics and readers from across Africa, the USA, Europe, and the Caribbean in dialogue with each other in Accra, Ghana, from May 16-19, 2013. 

 More than a dozen emerging and established Ghanaian writers and scholars, including Ama Ata Aidoo, Amma Darko, Ruby Goka, Mamle Kabu, Esi Sutherland-Addy and Margaret Busby will speak about their work on topics ranging from identity, to the craft of writing, to literary activism. These authors will be joined by other international writers such as: Angela Davis (USA), Tess Onwueme (Nigeria), Natalia Molebatsi (South Africa), Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro (Puerto Rico), Sapphire (USA), Veronique Tadjo (Côte d’Ivoire), Evelyne Trouillot (Haiti), and many others (a list of participants is below). Local organizations participating in this exciting gathering include the Pan-African Writers Association, the Ghana Association of Writers, and the Writers Project of Ghana.

 Yari Yari Ntoaso will consist of panels, readings, performances, and workshops, and will be devoted to the study, evaluation, and celebration of the creativity and diversity of women writers of African descent. Yari means “the future” in the Kuranko language of Sierra Leone;  Ntoaso means “understanding” and “agreement” in the Akan language of Ghana. Fifteen years after OWWA’s first major conference, Yari Yari Ntoaso continues the dialogue of previous Yari Yari gatherings, connecting writers, scholars, and readers.

 The conference program includes an entire panel devoted to Ghanaian literature, a Saturday morning “storytime” for children, and workshops for adult and youth. All events are free and open to the public, and all Ghanaians interested in literature – whether as readers or as writers, both youth and adults – are encouraged to attend. Register at 

http://owwainc.org/gettingthere.html. Most events will be held at the lovely facilities of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (No. 54 Independence Avenue, near the Ridge Roundabout) in Accra. A draft program is available in the “Gallery” section of www.indiegogo.com/owwa

Participants have received national and international awards from Ghana, Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, England; Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, the USA, and other countries. They have been poet laureates and are provocative bloggers. They teach at – and have received degrees from – universities in Ghana and around the world; and they have also created and work with grassroots community organizations. 

 

21 Days/21 Poems: “I Don’t Miss It” by Tracy K. Smith

Tracy K. Smith

Tracy K. Smith is an African-American poet who has published three collections of poetry.  Her third, Life on Mars, won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

The theme is love as I continue with Another 21 Days/21 Poems

I Don’t Miss It

But sometimes I forget where I am,
Imagine myself inside that life again.

Recalcitrant mornings. Sun perhaps,
Or more likely colorless light

Filtering its way through shapeless cloud.

And when I begin to believe I haven’t left,
The rest comes back. Our couch. My smoke

Climbing the walls while the hours fall.
Straining against the noise of traffic, music,

Anything alive, to catch your key in the door.
And that scamper of feeling in my chest,

As if the day, the night, wherever it is
I am by then, has been only a whir

Of something other than waiting.

We hear so much about what love feels like.
Right now, today, with the rain outside,

And leaves that want as much as I do to believe
In May, in seasons that come when called,

It’s impossible not to want
To walk into the next room and let you

Run your hands down the sides of my legs,
Knowing perfectly well what they know.

- by Tracy K. Smith

Source of Poem.  This poem is from her book, Duende.

Martin Egblewogbe, author of ‘Mr. Happy and the Hammer of God’ to read at Ghana Voices Series

Martin Egblewogbe is the writer of the month for Ghana Voices Series and will read at this month’s event.  Details for the reading are:

Date:  April 24th, 2013
Time:  7pm
Venue:  Goethe Institute Accra

Martin is the author of Mr Happy and the Hammer of God, a collection of short stories which I enjoyed immensely and reviewed here at Kinna Reads.   Some of what I had to say:

These stories are not burdened by the “African” condition. And those looking for a familiar Ghanaian/African setting will have to look elsewhere. And yet I recognized my street, my city and my people. Collectively, this book is a portrayal of our inner struggles, torments and our psyche. Who are you, what are you, how did you get here and where do you go from here?

The collection was initially self-published and I’m pleased to report, rather rather belatedly, that Ayebia Publishing re-published the collection in 2012.  I even attended the launch in Accra and had every intention of blogging about it then!

Anyway, if you are in Accra, do join us at Goethe for his reading.  I hear Martin is working on a new collection and will read a story or two from the manuscript.