PENGUIN SOUTH AFRICA- PRIZE and SERIES

African Renaissance has been on my mind since my trip to Barcelona a little over a week ago.

Recently Penguin South Africa has launched a new writers prize for African writers for Adult fiction and non fiction. They have gone so far as to launch The (new) African Writers Series which once belonged to Heinneman-bringing new life to the dreams of African writers. Chinua Achebe the Editorial Advisor of the series had this to say:

"Africa is not simple-Often people want to simplify it, generalise it, stereotype its people, but Africa is very complex. The world is just starting to get to know Africa-

This is what I personally want to see-writers from all over Africa contributing to a definition of themselves, writing ourselves and our stories into history."

www. penguin.book.co.za/blog/2009/04/23

The Last Few Days of the Year

Here's wishing all my friends accross continents Happy New Year.
May the coming year bring righteousness, joy and peace to our lives, our homes, our city, our province, our country and the whole wide world.

I will enjoy the singing of Auld Lang Syne ...... May our circles of friendship be unbroken!
Adwoa

GHANA 2008

No pictures yet. I arrived Sunday evening and was met at the airport by two of my sisters and two of my nieces. It is great to be met at the airport. Conversely the airport feels a lot more orderly and peaceful than years ago when we first began to travel.

Accra feels a little different this time. Perhaps Canada really is HOME! I have already had my hair done in braids and am looking quite nice I think. I have met family on both sides - my husbands and mine and all are doing fairly well.

Tomorrow we advance to Kibi, Kyebi or what you will to see what is to be done about the library. I will take my camera so you can see through my eyes...eventually.

Best wishes,
Adwoa

(the blogger returned).

TENACITY! Lesson One from Mrs. Clinton

Lesson one from Hillary Clinton is TENACITY.
Don't slack, loosen or quit your hold, no matter what.
Her eye has been on the end even when she had not fully conceived the goal, while it was just an uncommitted germ cell in an embryonic ovary.

She has been tenacious through her education as a young woman in law school and after her heart beat was awakened by Martin Luther King and she met and married her savvy husband Bill and found the dream which then doubled. Nothing has deterred her, not Whitewatergate or Whitehouseimproprietygate, when most feminists may have been tempted to divorce an errant husband in one self-satisfying drama of revenge and justification. No!

Hillary has taught us to dream the dream and to hold on to the dream, taking the plusses and the minusses. Hillary has taught me to keep the drama low and not to be the victim and to keep counting the 'yea' votes one by one. Eighteen million she came up with. Hats off to Hiilary and the victory of tenacity. Tenacity like Hillary continues to be a force to reckon with.

Obama etc.

Obama has won the Democratic primaries and made history! I hope the Americans commit to making even larger history for the elections. Rev. TD Jakes had much to say about that on a CNN site well worth reading. Worldwide, this event will serve to lift the expectations of Black people and minorities everywhere. We are aware that this event is about America yet it touches the rest of us in very real ways. Life is about the present and the future, the past should only help to strengthen our resolve for better tomorrows.

I have learned many lessons from watching both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama on CNN news everynight. I have enjoyed most of the presenters guests and analysts for these months, all except Lou Dobbs who leaves me feeling that there is something beneath that cultivated exterior. Larry King, Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer, I like, but we need a true woman anchor, a colorful personality, smart and intense, yet cool and professional. How about Arianna of the Huffington Post? She's smart but doesn't come accross like a bully as do Nancy Grace and Judge Judy. John King will be very happy to rest his electronic map. He must be so fed up of crunching those same numbers night after night although he was a good sport and never showed it. I must say CNN is riveting in it's ability to keep us hooked on the news inspite of many repetitions. How they manage to keep circulating the same news through out the day from program to program is amazing. I believe them when they say they are the best news team.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

Late last night, I chanced upon a documentary on the first year of Her Excellency Ellen Sirleaf's presidency of the West African country of Liberia. It ended about 2am. I was really tired after teaching dance that evening but I could not take my eyes off the unfolding real life drama on the TV screen.

What would inspire this woman entering her golden years, to attain to such a difficult and dangerous position, at a time of life when her peers would be retiring and seeking rest and pensions after years of service.

The woman I know, if she had worked hard and long for many years, would be inspired toward the comfort of a beautiful, exquisitely decorated suburban house, complete with landscaping, and a nice chauffeur driven upmarket car. Her son and daughter would probably have second and third degrees from American or European universities, and most likely would be working for corporate America and so on and so forth, in that general vein.... and why not? That is the good life. Indeed Sirleaf Johnson may have all of these as she held positions at Citibank and World Bank.

But Madam Sirleaf's older sister said their mother always said, "Ellen will be great!" Maybe that's what did it. It is my intention to research more about this woman, who walks her treadmill in the morning, dresses traditionally African, who has an unprecedented number of women in her cabinet. Ellen Sirleaf rises daily to fight against overwhelming poverty, extreme corruption, disorderly mobs (made up of exmilitia men and ex-renegade soldiers who laid waste the contryside in the days of Charles Taylor), opposition party members, (some of whom should have been tried and incarcerated for everything from war crimes to corruption) and unchecked multinationals who have exploited and mistreated Liberian workers for decades. She has very little on her side except hope and the undependable promises of aid from donors like the World Bank and IMF, who give with one hand and take back with the other hand and both feet!

Hooh! (Ghanaian groan) It's clear that her life is in danger from day to day and yet she faces confrontations as they come. She listens with grandmotherly compassion to the aggrieved, making everyone feel significant. She shoots straight with honesty and conviction in her dealings, never shying away from the difficult issues, whether with demonstrators or her own cabinet members. She doesn't run and she doesn't hide. How long can she keep this up?

She more than others, in world politics in recent times is the true revolutionary. I will be watching her as she leads this unlikely democracy, which is born out of years of civil war and loss. Indeed I will be praying for her. She will need a lot of help and I hope that America which has historical connections with this small country will find her cause worthy of real help. There will be many lessons yet to learn from her. And perhaps someone will follow her up soon with yet another documentary in the last year of her term.

I think of Winnie Mandela who began so well but was in the end affected by the corruption and dangers of her time. I wish Ellen well. " Finish hard", we cheer her on! I echo what her mother said when she was only a baby: "Ellen will be great!"

The Guelph Public Library is 125 Years Old

My librarian friends at the children's department of the GPL

CELEBRATE IMAGINATION!

Yesterday night I attended the GPL Gala at the Westminster Square Branch to celebrate all of 125 years and to promote the new main library which is yet to be born.
Sixty Guelph authors, guests and members of the public heard speeches from Norman McLeod the Chief Librarian, Susan Ratcliffe, Thomas King, the keynote speaker and Mary Mulholland of the Friends of the GPL. Dean Palmer unveiled the commemorative Triptych.
I didn't know that Guelph was home to so many authors and as our names were called we walked up the red carpet to applause. My notables were Bob Munsch, Linda Hendry, Janet Wilson and Jo Ellen Bogart, Dave Carter, Edeet Ravel, Stephen Hennighan, Amy Baskin, Jane Lewis and Werner Zimmerman.

30 million copies of books by Bob Munsch have been sold worldwide. WOW! I believe Linda Hendry and Janet Wilson have written and/or illustrated about 50 books each but the gathering wasn't about numbers and fiscal success, just simply about books and authors and the celebration of imagination. Our guest of honour, Tom King, said that writers didn't write for money. Well, making money while writing is very helpful especially if it is one's job or if one wants to spend more time doing it. But it is true that we write really because we feel we have something that begs to be said and also because we feel we can say it in such a way that people would like to read it.

There were trays and trays of cheese and grapes and so much left over at the end. The jazz by Bebopamoeba was electric, enlivening atmosphere. It was nice to meet new people and renew old acquaintances. I didn't take a camera but there were many photographers and am sure we can expect some photos on some internet site soon enough.

I would like to say thank you to the staff of the Guelph Public Library who put on a great gala and who went out of their way to celebrate Guelph authors on the anniversary of GPL, the very first public library in Ontario.

Happy Anniversary GPL!