writers unlimited festival (the Hague)

Had a great time at the writers unlimited festival in Den Haag, reconnecting with old writer friends Asis Aynan, Helon Habila, Chika Unigwe and, of course, Willemijn Lamp, who invited me in the first place. Apart from the diverse programme of music and literature (the kora of Zoumana Diarra collaborating with Basile Maneka at the end was sublime!), I now have a whole new set of satellites in my galaxy of writer families - Rodaan Al Ghalidi, Leila Chudori, Dinaw Mengestu, Bernice Chauly, Kopano Matlwa, Edney Silvestre. I was honoured to read English translations for Bajan Matur who I shared a ride with to the airport where I'm sitting writing this short blog, along with Miguel Conde of flip festival http://www.flip.org.br/ . The writers meeting at the beginning was genius - but I'm happy to be heading home to the family - my family!

Notes From a Warm Place

So, the people who invited me to read in Southern & Northern California have been sending me very lovely comments from the audience members and, I have pulled them together into a 14-line collage in celebration. My trip so far as been incredibly reaffirming - if I ever doubted that readers just love literature and want to be challenged and exposed to new worlds, my doubts have been blown away... Here's the collage/bricolage/commentage:

The poem he read to us which paralleled playing
a piano with playing basketball). I thought it was both
thoughtful and creative. Not only was he an attractive writer,
but his poetry was amazing, the perfect

antidote to an otherwise grinding week. His reading draws me in
and paints pictures; the way that he speaks of togetherness,
in terms of "we" instead of "I" says a lot about his character.
He speaks with such rhythm. I loved Nii's reading;

definitely my favorite guest speaker. The way he read
his novel was almost as if he was singing a song.
I love the way he incorporated language in his book.
He has such a wonderful spirit; I thoroughly enjoyed hearing his work.

I'm just about to order his book from Amazon.
I wish he could come back and read to us again!

First US Review - Library Journal

Excitement! I got my first US review from the 'we miss very little' Library Journal. I can't tell you how happy I am; I thought the book might just blow by like one of those LA clouds some band sings about... Here you go:

This is a charming, kindhearted, and profound first novel by Parkes, an acclaimed poet from Ghana. With great depth and intelligence, Parkes brings this story about traditional Ghanaian wisdom and spirituality beautifully to life. Structured like a detective story, the novel begins with the disturbing discovery of what may be human remains in the hut of a man in a remote country village. Set against a traditional world of elders and ancient wisdom is the modern world of forensic science, embodied by an ambitious police chief, P.J. Donkor, who is a fan of American forensic television shows like Law & Order and CSI. Donkor summons a young forensic expert, Kayo, to explain what has been found in the village. The novel turns out to be a modern-day fable about living in a world rich with mystery and spiritual energy. By the end, Kayo begins to believe that "the real truth, like love, was beyond the reach of scientific explication." VERDICT Enthusiastically recommended for all readers of literary fiction. — Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT

Here's the link to the page where it appears: http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviewsbook/887651-421/fiction.html.csp

Getting Tail of the Blue Bird for Christmas [US]

I have already sent a newsletter recently to let people know that my novel, Tail of the Blue Bird, although officially released in the US on January 13, 2011, will be delivered by most retailers in time for Christmas. However, for people who need more assurance, I have arranged the option to sell copies directly at a discounted price of $10 (instead of $14) and any copies bought through me - by clicking on the button below - will be delivered to US shoppers by Christmas - as long as they are ordered by December 16, 2010. The payment will be to a PayPal account, The Writers' Fund, and the difference between by author discount and the $10 price will be used in the work I do through The Writers' Fund in Ghana to support writers and writing initiatives.

Thank you for your support and readership and I wish you a great Tail-of-the-Blue-Bird-reading Christmas!

P.S. If you wish to encourage other people to buy the book to support me and my work, please use this short link on twitter, myspace, facebook, linkedin, bebo or by the humble, reliable original - e-mail. (Link -http://bit.ly/wftotb)

P.P.S. You can read an extract from the book here: http://bit.ly/gNrECO

August Advances

I've become a useless doting dad. All the hustle, travel, reading, performances and (gulp!) even the writing, everything has settled to a simmer in my life and the only thing popping is Little-Miss-Daughter who (I kid you not) is amazing! She's 20 months old and already she's having conversations with me in Ga and English and scolding me (no more, Daddy, no more!). I used to think my mother was making things up when she told me the really complicated things I am supposed to have said at the age of three, but I'm beginning to believe. The human mind is truly, truly amazing! What I can't get my head around is the fact that we lose pretty much all our memory of events up to the age of 3/4, but we don't forget the things we learn e.g. language, whether or not to be afraid of dogs etc. etc. It's mind-boggling. Anyway I'll bore you no longer with Daddyhood. The good thing, with hindsight, is, I did so many sleepless nights BEFORE my daughter was born that it seems I will be releasing new work until I finish the next project. In the meantime, here are some updates.

Tail of the Blue Bird was selected by Writers' Centre Norwich as one of their Summer Reads and right through the year it's been promoted in local bookshops and libraries, which has been amazing. The initiative is now coming to an end, but until the end of August, Tail of the Blue Bird is being discussed online as well as at a special Tail of the Blue Bird Book Club Session at Writers’ Centre Norwich, 14 Princes St, Norwich, Tuesday 24th August, 6pm. To join the online discussions, just go the the WCN Facebook Page. You can even check out their reading guide.

Sticking with discussions, Tail of the Blue Bird, stands a one-in-eleven chance of being chosen for discussion at the African Writers's Evening book discussion on Friday September 17 at the Poetry Cafe and YOU GET £4 toward the cost of the book too. To vote for Tail of the Blue Bird and find out more, visit: African Writers' Evening

Now, book news - or new books news :) I mentioned the release of a Dutch version of Tail of the Blue Bird and I can confirm that it is now out and selling well (you can see it on the publisher's website) and so is the German version (also on the publisher's website), which has had a couple of decent reviews this week [Links: Die Spiegel | Watching the Detectives ]. Well, I'm guessing that they're good because I couldn't make real sense of the automatic translation!

I have also now held in my hands a physical copy of my children's book The Parade (pictured on the left) and I can assure you that it feels good. Plus I am assured that I will receive in tomorrows post a few copies of my début full poetry collection The Makings of You. I am giving five copies away, so the best five pleas I receive detailing why you should get a copy in tweet-length (i.e. text or 140 characters) will get them. I'll reveal the winners at the end of the month :) Of course, this doesn't mean don't buy the book - I need you to buy it so I can earn some royalties, but you can flog the one you bought if you win!

And finally, drum roll... the long-awaited US release! It is still long-awaited, the release date has been pushed back to 20 January 2011, but you can now pre-order it on amazon.com or BN.com AND I will be coming to the US in January/February for a whole month to promote it (with the other two books, of course!). My first reading/signing is likely to be in Rochester, NY but I'm still trying to fix dates so if you know of a local bookstore or college/university that would like to have me visit/sign/read/teach and it's on the East Coast, please contact me so we can work something out. Not many people have seen what the entire cover will look like, but... eyes-left - voila! You're the first, my fans, my everything!

what i'm reading/listening to

listening:
Omara Portuondo - la novia del filin

reading:
Arthur Gakwandi - The Novel and Contemporary Experience in Africa

Little Pleasures

I haven't blogged in a while, I haven't listened to NEW music in a while, I haven't invented a new recipe in a while - it's been that kind of year. I spent most of January and February in my editorial role for flipped eye publishing editing work for three of my favourite poets - Ainsley Burrows, Agnes Meadows, Charlotte Ansell - and ended the month of February with a celebration event called reaching the 10000, marking a slaes landmark for flipped eye.

But before the end of Feb I went to see Junot Diaz at the Royal Festival Hall and got my copy of the brilliant The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao signed. The book has now joined others on my shelf and it just hit me that about 20-30% of the books I've bought/received in the last year have been signed. Is this the real pleasure of being a writer - that you know/meet so many writers that you get a good chunk of your books signed - and free, even? I don't think so - what I get from those books, really, is inspriration, because I only get books signed by authors I admire - every one of those books is a reminder, a klaxon, a broken record stuck on the word write, write, write, write....

[Oh, started a new notepad for my teaching stuff...]

new publications

well, not altogether new publications, not all of them:
i have some new poetry in the online oregon literary review that you can read by clicking this link - i think this was in 2006, but I was busy so I forgot to share the good news
and i've also had my story scotch bonnets appear in another Canadian magazine - a nice homely magazine called Ottawa at Home (it doesn't really have its own site but the link will get you some information). my surname was misspelled as Parke in the issue but i'm not stressed - a bit of money in the bank; they got my important names right :)

what i'm reading/listening to

listening:
Roy Ayers - Perfection (OK, just 'cos I'm in a busy period and I'm not hotlinking the titles doesn't mean you shouldn't check them out. Roy is amazing!

reading:
Alice Munro - The Love of a Good Woman (First time I'm reading a full collection from AM - interesting stuff)