Trauma and motherhood were strong themes in this book but in my reading of the novel, I never saw the women as victims. Rather, these women were heroic, misunderstood and extremely strong. Ada’s Realm is linguistically rich – at least four languages (Ga, Twi, German and English) appear in this book – not to mention an old English dialect too. The book was replete with Ghanaian phrases and references that most Ghanaians would be familiar with.  And join our Podcast Club to access exclusive and early release content and discounts here: https://ko-fi.com/akadimagazine The music in this epi ..read more

Marie-Claire is the author of ‘One For Sorrow, Two For Joy’ - a book that explores the impact of unresolved childhood trauma in adult life. She wrote the book during the COVID-19 pandemic and recalls writing  54,000 words in two months, which she describes as "unnaturally fast".  Listen to author Marie-Claire as she explores themes linked to trauma, superstition and healing in this podcast episode. She also explains her writing process and gives us a sneak peek into details of her second novel. And join our Podcast Club to access exclusive and early release content and disco ..read more

How does a person heal from childhood trauma? Listen to author Marie-Claire Amuah who explores the impact of unresolved childhood trauma in adult life in her debut book ‘One For Sorrow, Two For Joy’ on our ‘Connecting Communities’ Podcast. When we first meet Stella, she’s an eight-year-old girl who lives with her mum, dad and older brother Sol. Stella is a bright young girl, loved by her friends and teacher Ms Wilks. But at home she is considered insolent by her father and experiences physical and mental abuse at his hands. So does her mum but her brother does not.  This book explore ..read more

‘Small Joys’ is the debut novel of Elvin James Mensah which tells the story of a friendship bond that blossoms between two unlikely friends called Harles and Muddy. Harles is a British-Ghanaian queer man who has a lot on his plate. He’s dropped out of university. He has a fraught relationship with his father and he’s battling depression.  Muddy is a Mancunian man who moves into a shared house with his friend Chelsea and Harles – his new housemate. Muddy is easy going, loves indie music and is a keen a bird watcher. In part two, Elvin share details of his writing process with Abena ..read more

‘Small Joys’ is the debut novel of Elvin James Mensah which tells the story of a friendship bond that blossoms between two unlikely friends called Harles and Muddy. Harles is a British-Ghanaian queer man who has a lot on his plate. He’s dropped out of university. He has a fraught relationship with his father and he’s battling depression.  Muddy is a Mancunian man who moves into a shared house with his friend Chelsea and Harles – his new housemate. Muddy is easy going, loves indie music and is a keen twitcher (a bird watcher). In part one of this interview, Elvin tells Abena Sɛwaa, th ..read more

Abena Sɛwaa and KAmo, the editors of AKADi Magazine share their thoughts and highlights from a series of books written about the Danish presence in Accra during the 18th and 19th century. This segment is called: Challenging perspectives: Accra, her people and the Danes. Our aim is to dig deeper into our understanding of what life was like in Accra (primarily) for the average woman, man, and child, and explore what impact the presence of Europeans over the centuries has had on the exchange of ideas, how it has shaped our cultures, languages, traditions, trade and more.   The reading list ..read more

What was life like for the average woman, man, and child in 17th, 18th and 19th century Accra? And what impact did the European presence have on the exchange of ideas, cultures, languages, traditions, trade and more? Our aim with this and subsequent interviews with historians and academic experts is to dig deeper into our understanding of what life was like in Accra (primarily). We explore this in a new series in our ‘Connecting Communities’ podcast called –Challenging perspectives: Accra, her people and the Danes.  In our first interview we speak to Hermann von Hesse, assistant prof ..read more

Abena Sɛwaa and KAmo, the editors of AKADi Magazine share their thoughts and highlights from a series of books written about the Danish presence in Accra during the 18th and 19th century. This segment is called: Challenging perspectives: Accra, her people and the Danes. Our aim is to dig deeper into our understanding of what life was like in Accra (primarily) for the average woman, man, and child, and explore what impact the presence of Europeans over the centuries has had on the exchange of ideas, how it has shaped our cultures, languages, traditions, trade and more.   The reading list ..read more

Hello and welcome to another episode of our Connecting Communities Podcast.  My name is Abena Serwaa, the publishing editor of AKADi Magazine and you were just listening to Lily Naadu Mensah, older sister to the late Douglas Ankrah – the cocktail entrepreneur, author and businessman who created one of the UK’s top 10 cocktails – famously called the Pornstar Martini. This cocktail is a passion-fruit-flavoured drink made with vanilla-flavoured vodka, Passoã (a passionfruit flavoured liqueur made with natural passionfruit), passion fruit juice, and lime juice.  It is traditionally ac ..read more

Eric Owusu is better known for supporting musical heavyweights such as Ebo Taylor and Pat Thomas and the Kwashibu Area Band with his energised live drumming performances. But this seasoned percussionist is making a return to his childhood passion as a singer. And he’s now fronting his own band Jembaa Groove with co-founder, composer and producer Yannick Nolting. Eric talks to us about forming the Berlin-based Afro-Soul band during the height of the pandemic, why he infuses Ghanaian languages into his lyrics and where you can see and hear Jembaa Groove this year. Jembaa Groove’s 'Basa Basa' tra ..read more