Nii Ayikwei Parkes is Booktrust's second online writer in residence. Click here to visit the writer in residence page Click here for Nii's biography

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  • Broken Translations

    Posted Tuesday March 9th 2010
    by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

    I’m doing some research out in Ghana right now. I’m loving and resenting the heat in equal measures and, of course, I’m constantly amused to be back in the place where almost all the languages I ‘respond to’ come into play. The amusement comes mainly because in my first few days back I’m hypersensitive to tones, inflections, cadences and the odd twists of translations.

    OK, maybe I’m moving a bit fast; to give context, having been formed by colonial whim rather than with respect to pre-existing sovereignties, Ghana has more languages than you can count on your fingers – so the language of officialdom is English. The result of this is that our Englishes are the result of myriad permutations of textbook English via the filter of the native tongues of Ghana. The trouble is that many of the languages are tonal and some of the early translations done by missionaries who had transcribed what they heard spoken do not take this into account. For me, the most amusing results are the names Father and Mother. I was walking down the main Kaneshie – Abeka road when I heard a young boy calling out Mother; I was struck…

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  • Nii Parkes performs a poem exclusively for Booktrust

    Posted Monday March 8th 2010
    by Nikesh Shukla

    Watch a video of writer in residence, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, performing 'By Yourself Boy' from his forthcoming collection, The Makings of You:

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  • Interview with Nii Ayikwei Parkes [3]

    Posted Monday March 1st 2010
    by Nikesh Shukla

    This week, watch Nii talk about the inspiration behind his novel, Tail of the Blue Bird:

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  • In Conference

    Posted Tuesday February 23rd 2010
    by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

    A couple of weeks ago, I was honoured to speak at the Booktrust regional conference in Manchester. I arrived halfway through the day, but the attendants had been sitting in rooms the whole day thinking of new ways to get books into the hands of readers. There’s something about that that just made me so happy; you know, imagine- as the military strategists sit out there thinking of new battles, and the arms manufacturers and dealers pray for conflict (I’m always astounded at the thought that there are companies that manufacture arms exclusively; if there is peace, they are out of business), there are people out there scheming to get books to you. What a wonderful world we live in!

    Anyway, the theme of the conference was ‘Reading for Pleasure, Reading for Life’ (which made me think of that wonderful Charles Simic poem ‘The Pleasures of Reading’) and my role was to speak as a writing practitioner, to be a symbol of the lives behind the books, outlining the triumphs and challenges of the writer’s life. Not knowing the make up of my audience (I admit I could have known if I had asked!), I did something I’d once overheard-…

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  • Daydream Diaries

    Posted Tuesday February 9th 2010
    by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

    It strikes me that a large part of my life has been spent daydreaming. First it got me into trouble– as a kid my mother could scream for me for ages and I just wouldn’t hear her (of course, she thought I was ignoring her), resulting in my winning a catalogue of chores as punishment, during which, yes you guessed, I would daydream! Later, in boarding school in Accra, it got me out of trouble; a few of the seniors (who were inordinately powerful and lacking in restraint) became aware of my dreamy way with phrases and would spare me punishments in exchange for love letters addressed to the girls of their dreams – and, of course, now, daydreaming is the engine for my career. People ask me what my writing routine is and are often disappointed when I tell them, truthfully, that I don’t have one. Most of my work is done in my head – when I’m travelling, when I drift off during conversations, when I’m having a shower – and then, when I finally sit down it comes pouring out. A very messy process, I assure you.

    But I want to talk about another thing I do…

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