Book Bloggers Abroad (10) – Ghana

Welcome to the weekly guest post in the Book Bloggers Abroad series. Every week a book blogger from a different country will be featured who will talk about what it’s like to be a book blogger where he or she lives.

Ghana

Our guest blogger for today is Kinna from Ghana. Her book blog is called Kinna Reads. She reads and reviews fiction, both contemporary and classic.  She enjoys world literature and women writers, especially African women writers.  Go and have a look at her blog!

Interview with Kinna

Please tell us a little about yourself.
I’m Kinna.  I live in a suburb of Accra, Ghana (on the west coast of Africa) with my two boys. I work with two organizations; one supports the development of African women writers and the other provides libraries and afterschool programs in rural areas in Ghana.  Very rewarding but extremely challenging work.

My reading place in my garden at home

Where do you get your books from? Can you get the books you want to read?
It’s hard getting books in Ghana, at least the type of books that I want to read.  I get my books from 4 sources:

1. from my huge library that I shipped intact from New York when I was coming back home.
2. from expensive bookstores in Ghana
3. from friends and family when they are coming to Ghana
4. from overseas bookstores when I travel outside the country.

The one silver lining is I can purchase books in the African Writers Series for less than $2 each.  It goes without saying that the state of reading and of libraries in my country is dismal; a situation that some of us who value reading are working to change.

I read mostly contemporary and classic fiction.  I love world literature and I’m also partial to women writers, especially African women writers.

Where do you read?
Well, I read wherever I can grab a moment of peace and space, especially from my 4 year old son.  I read in my bedroom, on my porch and anywhere that I have to wait for something to happen.  Oh, and I also love reading in my mother’s house.

The headpost of my bed, where I read

What language(s) do you read in?
The official language of instruction and business in my country is English so I’ve always read in English.  I speak Fanti, a Ghanaian language, but I can’t read it and even if I could, there are relatively few books written in our indigenous languages. Across Africa, the vast majority of fiction is written in English, French or Portuguese.

Please suggest one national author that you love and recommend a book.
I’m going to suggest more that one.  I recommend books by Ama Ata Aidoo, Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Ayi Kwei Armah.  For those who are interested in crime fiction, I recommend Yaba Badoe’s True Murder and Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey.

Tell us about blogging in your country
At last count there are three book bloggers in the country including myself.  When I started the blog, I worried about keeping it going amid frequent electricity and broadband outages.   I have a generator which helps. The real surprise has been how good and consistent the broadband service in Ghana is, at least in the areas that have the service.  In all then, it has not been a hassle. In fact it’s been a real pleasure so far blogging from Ghana.

Elmina Castle

Name one fact that you would like others to know about your country.
During the colonial period, Ghana was occupied by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English.  The Portuguese built Elmina Castle in 1482. It’s the oldest European building in sub-Saharan Africa.  Originally built as a trade settlement, it was infamously used as one of the last stop on the Atlantic Slave Trade.  Slaves captured across the region were held at Elmina (and other castles on the West African Coast).  They would then board the ships that were to take them to the Europe and the Americas.  Elmina Castle is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and a popular tourist attraction.  It’s very unsettling to visit the Castle.  There are actual chambers marked “The Point of No Return”.

Click on the world for a Google Maps picture!

Thanks Kinna, for letting us have a look at your life as a reader and blogger. I’m curious to know what the literacy level in Ghana is like. I’m thinking that if there is very little published in Fanti, knowing how to read is only useful to people that know English or French. Is that right?

Don’t forget to take a look at Kinna’s blog. If you have any questions or comments for Kinna, just leave them in the comments section.

Next week Graasland from The Netherlands will be visiting us for the eleventh Book Bloggers Abroad guest post. Don’t miss it!