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Works

Songs of Benjamin (Cissus World Press, 2020)

SONGS of BENJAMIN is a collection of poetic pieces inspired by Biblical characters, with profound observations that collectively form a gripping homage to Jesus as Creator and Messiah.  While employing an alternate rhyming scheme throughout, the structure of the various poems in this collection refreshingly defies convention and in substance offers an insightful vista into the deep and spectral array of agape love. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, from law to grace,  the language is by turns poetic and accessible, narrational and poignantly descriptive.  The collection touches on an eclectic group of Biblical personalities including Abraham, Moses, Deborah, Esther, John the Baptist, Mary (mother of Jesus), Mary Magdalene, Paul, and others.  Springing from a place as deep as it is inspired, these vignettes become an ultimate homage to Jesus.   

Obsessions of Paradise (Cissus World Press, April 30, 2019)

"The tales of these couples—Ama and Shem, Maud and George—seem starkly different, but their futures are all bound up together in this novel that explores the interconnected modern world. Kwakye's (Songs of a Jealous Wind, 2018, etc.) prose finds the tension in the strangeness of place… a bubbling mysteriousness rooted in desire and longing will propel readers ever deeper into this idiosyncratic story." –Kirkus Reviews

 

With a keen focus on the strains of both voluntary and forced relocations, this novel blends the divergent experiences of various nationals into a coherent voice of love.  Obsessions of Paradise chronicles the oft dehumanizing odyssey of migrants in search of hope, at the same time as it is a tender story of insecure but compelling love.  Ama, a Ghanaian doctor based in the United States, is entangled in an improbable if compelling relationship with the destitute Shem.  As their relationship dangles on the tightrope of social stigma, another one that seems surefooted is developing between Maud, a London doctor whose family fled Zimbabwe after persecution over land disputes, and George, a local businessman with international connections who flirts with racial politics.  The men embark on fate altering journeys to Libya, one in hope of a better life, the other to promote business interests.  In Libya, the doctors will confront each other and their men in ways none of them would have imagined.  Faced with a redemptive option in the face of potential calamity, their ultimate choices illustrate what Kwakye labels the ethnicity of our humanity and posits that love can, and must, speak to all.

 

 

Songs of a Jealous Wind

Songs of a Jealous Wind (2018)

“Benjamin Kwakye emerges from this very impressive collection, Songs of a Jealous Wind, as the most versatile of African poets, the master of various poetic techniques. Whether working from traditional sources of inspiration like the praise poem or the dirge, or deploying, in a modernist way, taut, condensed, yet powerful imagery that must be unraveled to get at meaning, or using free verse or rhymes, he shows himself a complete master of the poetic art, and he has produced poems combining compactness with fluidity and fluency. His themes include the whole gamut of the African experience: the glorious heroes and heroines of the African past, the lusciousness of the African environment, the oppressiveness of imperialism, the corruption of contemporary life. He continues to reinforce his claim to being incontestably in the front rank of African writers.” – Professor Eustace Palmer, Georgia College & State University

The Count's False Banquet (2017)

Benjamin Kwakye concludes his trilogy on the modern African migrant’s experience in America with another dazzling medley of language, plot and outreach to our common humanity. In this final instalment, Count Tutu leaves his native Ghana for the United States seeking the feast of the famed American Dream. His anticipated banquet of dreams sours, however, when he is at once welcomed and rejected, torn by external and internal conflicts, soothed by the promise of romance (both literal and figurative), and inflicted with other deep emotional wounds with far reaching consequences. With the spacious array of the immigrant experience for a canvass, The Count’s False Banquet paints an impressive portrait of the pain of self-imposed banishment from home, the contradictory inescapable boundlessness and restrictions of longing, hope and desire, and the expansiveness of human will.

Soul to Song (2017)

Collection of Poems

The Three Books of Shama (2016)

An epic chronicle of Rwandan born Shama's struggles and triumphs as an immigrant.

The Executioner's Confession (2015)

A collection of short stories
The Executioner's Confession (Cissus World Press, 2015)
Scrolls of the Living Night

“Kwakye's evocative blend of detail, memory, stories, characters and lyrical commentary makes this book an ambitious project that will have a lasting impact on the reader. Traditional and modern Ghanaian/African culture clash in this courageous adventure rich with memorable characters, myths, places and sophisticated language.”

Eyes of the Slain Woman (2011)

In Echoes of Hungry Blood, Solo, a disenchanted doctor, leaves his practice in Accra to work in a village, where he is presented with the challenge of caring for those who have committed crimes against his family. His decision has severe ramifications that lead to regret and eventual deliverance. In The Last Next, Solo returns to the city and remarries. His new wife is soon diagnosed with a terminal illness and, unable to cope with the pain, she asks him to euthanize her. His agreement and the ensuing murder trial and conviction become a journey of growth and redemption. Eyes of the Slain Woman narrates the harrowing experiences of Ma Ebo, a long-widowed woman, following the murder of her son. A friend persuades her to visit her son’s murderer in prison and in the process finds healing and the liberation of forgiveness.

The Other Crucifix (2010)

An epic novel on the African immigrant experience.

Legacy of Phantoms (2015)

Legacy of Phantoms narrates the internal battles of the twin Kakra as he struggles to come to terms with a past so jarring he is able to recall its details in a disjointed and piecemeal manner only. It entails intense sibling rivalry that flirts with fratricide, shocking betrayals, joy and pain, and triumph and failure. As his memory negotiates this complex terrain and as he relives past experiences, Kakra comes to the realization that he must embrace the past in order to assert control over his future. In language at once poetic and accessible, Legacy of Phantoms offers a tale that stands as a powerful metaphor of Africa’s socio-political past and present.

The Sun by Night (2005)

The novel unravels the secrets surrounding the death of a prostitute. Framed around a court case, it is a gripping tale of murder, courtroom shenanigans, and intense conflicts. It explores familial and traditional commitments, individual freedom, marriage, love, and class exploitation to weave an enduring tapestry of great human value.

The Clothes of Nakedness (1998)

Into a poor, if jovial, world of a group of friends descends the intriguing and dapper Mystique Mysterious bearing attractive offers of a better life. Embracing him is to fall prey to his diabolical machinations; however, those that dare challenge or ignore him do so at their own peril. Faced with seemingly impossible choices, each character must struggle to contend with forces that seem out of human control and endeavor to carve out his or her own destiny. With the flora and fauna of Accra as its backdrop, The Clothes of Nakedness examines the complexities of human interactions and, in the process, offers a gritty expose of relations between rich and poor in modern Ghana.

Lyrics of Lions

A fantastic tale of Kobi the Magician and his twin brother Paa Quartey.

The Fool's Tomatoes

On its face a tale of familial tension, this story illustrates the lurking power of those whose influence we allow to overwhelm our judgment.