Check out it out here: www.talefourcities.com

This article first appeared in The Accra Daily Mail

The arts, it is said, enhance what science makes possible. Those societies that have found the right mix between science and the arts also somehow manage to get the development equation right. It certainly sounds like a cliché but any society that is made up of only science breeds automatons and when only the arts dominate, romantics take over… It’s almost like Kwegir Aggrey’s axiom of the black and white keys of the piano: Both are needed to create harmony.

Two editions ago of The Accra Mail I reported on Vice President John Mahama’s literary pursuits and his book-in-progress, “My first Coup d’etat”. For me it was most propitious, for if a Ghanaian politician at that level would find the time to write, then perhaps we are beginning to witness the birth of the “philosopher kings” which not only Ghana but other African nations need to break out of the cycle of poverty, ignorance, disease and underdevelopment.

There are other Ghanaians of course engaged in similar pursuits – a new corps of young people, who are making serious writing their business and encouragingly some of the most promising ones are young women. There is Farida Bedwei with her “Definition Of A Miracle”, Alba Kunadu Sumprim with “The Imported Ghanaian”, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond with “Powder Necklace”, Ayesha Harruna Attah with her “Harmattan Rain”.

These are young women with the abilities and capabilities to pursue other disciplines but chose to take the literary path. Farida’s case is particularly poignant. Disabled by a neurological ailment since childhood, she pursued a course in computer programming and has become a competent expert in the field. Defying all odds of her disability she’s been able to take up writing in addition to her “normal” day’s job.

Nana Ekua is a cum laude graduate of Vassar College in the US who has written for Bluefly, AOL, Parenting Magazine, the Village Voice, Metro and Trace Magazine. Powder Necklace is her debut novel and is loosely autobiographical. Other writings include “Bush Girl”, “The Whinings of a Seven Sister Cum Laude Graduate Working Board as as Assistant”.

Ayesha majored in Biochemistry at Mount Holyoke College, also in the US. She spurned the medical field in favour of a journalism programme at Columbia where she earned her MSc. It was after this that she worked on Harmattan Rain which was short-listed last year for the Commonwealth Writers Prize, Best First Book, African Region. She has just graduated with a second Masters Degree from New York University.

In New York last Sunday, Ekua and Ayesha joined Jess Row, a young American writer once named as a “Best Young American Novelist” and Cynthia Morrison Phoel another American writer to read extracts from their works: Two Ghanaian young writers rubbing shoulders with their US contemporaries in this very crowded and difficult field. It was not their first public reading and certainly not the last. It is one of the platforms they use to showcase their works and make sales – when possible. Both Ekua and Ayesha have spoken of the immense difficulties faced – from idea conception to distribution and sales – but with determination, not resignation. They held their own against their American colleagues exhibiting the kind of confidence needed to persevere to take over from the Achebes, Ayikwei Armahs, Ngugis and the other African literary giants who are now in the twilight of their years.

Even though over the years different Ghanaian governments have published cultural policies to advance the country’s arts, none has been able to go beyond the politics of it and give it meaning. For the likes of Farida, Alba, Ekua and Ayesha to contribute in enhancing life, they need the support at home to fully actualize their creative potentials…

Justin Taylor is the author of the novel, The Gospel of Anarchy, and the story collection, Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever. Both books were New York Times Editor’s Choice selections. With the poet Jeremy Schmall he edits The Agriculture Reader, a limited-edition arts annual.

Cara Hoffman is the author of So Much Pretty. Cara grew up in an economically depressed town in upstate New York. She dropped out of high school, bought a one-way ticket to London with her savings, and spent the next three years working under-the-table jobs in Europe and the Middle East. In the 1990s, she returned to the United States, became a mother, and began working as an investigative reporter at a daily newspaper. Hoffman covered New York State’s rural and rust-belt communities for over a decade, reporting on environmental politics, county legislatures and crime. In 2000, she received a New York State Foundation for the Art Fellowship for her writing on the aesthetics of violence and its impact on children.

Benjamin Hale is the author of The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore. He is a recent graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop. He is the recipient of an Iowa Provost’s Fellowship and a Michener-Copernicus Award. He grew up in Colorado and now lives in New York.

Sarah Rose Etter is the author of Tongue Party, which was selected by Deb Olin Unferth as the winner of the 2010 Caketrain chapbook competition. Tongue Party is available for pre-order from Caketrain Press. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Collagist, Flatmancrooked, PANK Magazine, elimae, The Baltimore Review, and more. her stories have also been performed in London by the Liars’ League. She earned her B.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University and her M.F.A. in Fiction from Rosemont College.

MUSICAL GUEST:

R.A. Villanueva lives in Brooklyn. A finalist for the Beatrice Hawley Award and the Alice James Books/Kundiman Poetry Prize, his writing has appeared in Gulf Coast, AGNI, Virginia Quarterly Review, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, DIAGRAM, Bellevue Literary Review, and elsewhere.

This online literary magazine will feature fiction and creative nonfiction set in real locations in three cities – NEW YORK, LONDON and DUBAI – as well as this month’s guest city, MUMBAI. This project bridges the gap between travel writing and creative writing, bringing together stories that reflect the real and the imagined within our cities.

Submit your story!

For submission guidelines, checkout TFC’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Tale-of-Four-Cities/173766116001037

The latest issue of SalonZine themed “Spill” has arrived! In this issue we explore what gets out of control, what we try to control, and what controls us. Read an interview with artist Nancy Martini whose work documents the Gulf Coast Spill; an interview with poet Ed Pavlic who writes about his journey on a dhow on the Swahili coast; essays about a darker side of Oregon, a cunning high school student, an endearing rock concert; stories about love and theft; poetry that will spill into your heart.

Read on…

So, yes, the answer is yes. For you luggage hounds out there, take heed. All you really need is the spirit, and of course, the funds (that one I’m still working on, but won’t let it stop me) to travel.

Check out Rolf’s website (and funny video, and his books, if you can’t afford to vagabond internationally quite yet) for more inspiration.

Happy travels, Rolf!

-N

ps and for you city folks on a budget (or not): pack your sunscreen/water/book and head to one of ny’s lovely sandy beaches like Long Beach (accessible by LIRR) or Far Rockaway Beach (on the beloved A train). No better time than the present.

Or here: Save the Children.

Or here: Mercy Corps.

Bahut Shukria. Thank you.

Join us at Jimmy’s 43 at 43 East 7th St. b/w 2nd & 3rd Aves.

Sunday Salon will stand with Haiti on Sunday, January 24 by collecting monetary donations for  Stand With Haiti – Partners in Health, a solid, on-the-ground organization already in high gear helping the rescue and recovery effort. And while the best thing you can give right now is money, if you want to donate goods, we encourage you to consider assembling a hygiene or baby kit for Church World Service. Here’s how. Or if you have skills needed & want to volunteer, you can register with the Center for International Disaster Information. Also, scroll down to the end of this post to read about other fundraising events in NYC this week and next.