Special Reading with selected APBF Poets
Writers Project of Ghana and Goethe-Institut Ghana present a special reading event with Ghanaian poets Jay Kophy, Nikitta Dede Adjirakor, and Tawiah Naana Akua Mensah. The reading and conversation will feature the poets reading from their chapbooks, published by the African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) in collaboration with Akashic Books and selected, edited and introduced by Prof. Kwame Dawes and Prof. Chris Abani. The books are Maceration by Jay Kophy, A Litany on Loss by Tawiah Naana Akua Mensah, and Learning to Say My Name by Nikitta Dede Adjirakor and are part of the annual New Generation African Poets chapbook set.
The reading and conversation is scheduled for Saturday, 29th July 2023 at 4 PM at the Goethe Institut and will be moderated by Elizabeth Johnson. Copies of the chapbooks will also be available for sale.
Tawiah Mensah is a native of Ekumfi Narkwa in the Central Region of Ghana. She is a graduate of the University of Ghana, where she double-majored in French and Political Science. Tawiah Mensah was just published in the New-Generation African Poets, A Chapbook Box Set:Tisa. Her work has also been published in the 2021 Balance Anthology: Equanimity, by CGWS, A Voice is A Voice: Resistance Issue, as well as in Lādē Magazine, based in Chicago. She has also written and shared many of her poems and write-ups on her social media and blog.
Jay Kophy is a Ghanaian poet and the author of Maceration (African Poetry Book Fund Akashic Books, 2022) and Walking on Water (Library of Africa and the African Diaspora/Light Factory Publications, 2021). His poems have been featured and are forthcoming in literary magazines such as AGNI, Lolwe, FourWay Review, Indianapolis Review, Glass Poetry, Tampered Press, and many others. He is also the first prize recipient of the 2020 Samira Bawumia Literature Prize in poetry and a co-founder and managing editor for the Contemporary Ghanaian Writers Series (CGWS).
Dr. Nikitta Dede Adjirakor is an academic researcher and creative writer. She is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Ghana where her research focuses on literature in African languages, particularly poetry, aesthetics, popular culture and digital literature. Her creative writing focuses on the intersections between belonging, language, health and trauma. Nikitta is the writer and producer of the award-winning documentary A Thousand Needles which explores African women’s health. She is the author of the poetry chapbook Learning to Say My Name (2023) published by the African Poetry Book Fund. Her children’s book Dede Dances at Our Day (2022) has been published in English and Twi. Under Write Ghana Literary Initiatives, she co-edited the Ga poetry anthology Hɔmɔwɔ: Ga Lalawiemɔi (2022) and co-produces multilingual literary projects in Ghanaian languages. Her works have been published in Africa is A Country, gal-dem, Sand Journal, Tampered Press and others.
Details below:
Date: Saturday, 29th July, 2023.
Time: 4:00 PM
Venue: Goethe-Institut, 30 Kakramadu Road, East Cantonments, Accra.
Follow us online: IG and Twitter (@writersPG) / FB (Writers Project of Ghana)