First published on 11th October, 2011 in StarMag
AFRICAN children have something in common with Malaysian children. They have limited choice when it comes to books that reflect their lives. Although the continent has produced many great novelists who have achieved international recognition through their powerful accounts of life in the various African nations they hail from, there are no African children’s authors of similar stature.
Twenty-four-year-old Deborah Ahenkorah, co-founder and executive director of the Golden Baobab Prize, grew up in Ghana reading Nancy Drew, the Famous Five and The Babysitters Club. She says, “I didn’t really realise the absence of African stories in my reading diet until I went to college in the United States on scholarship and I realized that I couldn’t answer any questions on Africa because I didn’t know Africa. I wanted to talk about America and Europe all the time, I knew those places … through my books.”
First published on 3rd July, 2011 in StarMag
First published on 17th April, 2011 in StarMag
I couldn’t resist buying this book today: The Riddle of Raggedrock Ridge, #4 in Marilyn Ezzell’s Susan Sand Mystery Stories series.
First published in 2009 in The Star
A version of this piece was first published on 22nd December, 2013 in my column, Tots to Teens in The Sunday Star
First published on 23rd August, 2009 in The Star
daphne lee 