Author Description

"A new voice in haiku, hailing from Ghana and a leader in the growing haiku movement of Afriku, Adjei Agyei-Baah enriches our world in demonstrating an accomplished sense of this brief poetic form. Often, animal, human and natural forms relate intimately in a fluid and organic sociality which belies the term "personification." These works reveal a poet's passion for his world and culture, without compromise -- I highly recommend this book!" --Professor Richard Gilbert, Kumamoto University, Japan. Haiku composition has been slowly picking up steam in Africa, culminating in 2015 in the ejournal, The Mamba, edited by Adjei Agyei-Baah and Emmanuel Kalusian. They their latest issue, they make a case for Africa-centric version of haiku, using the genre to speak about the continent's sight and sound instead of merely being imitative of the Japanese culture. The current volume, Afriku, by Adjei Agyei-Baah, successfully illustrate that ideal. The volume is full of many fine and well-executed haiku, many of them sketches, but Adjei has an eye for the interesting detail. In English and Twi. Deserted shore/the wind/sharpens its voice/over a conch--Modern Haiku Journal 48.1. It is such a pleasure to find high-quality haiku in this new collection, Afriku: Haiku & Senryu from Ghana by Adjei Agyei-Baah, cofounder of Poetry Foundation Ghana and Africa Haiku Network. Published as a dual-language edition in Twi and English, most of the haiku are based on Adjei's cultural perspectives from Ghana. For example, he writes, all that remain / of a lost tribe's story --/scratches and scars. In another he writes, dawn rivalry --/ a muezzin / and a rooster. Tis is an exciting collection by one of the new leaders of contemporary haiku in Africa. I look forward to seeing the growth of haiku across Africa and this book is a preview of that anticipated growth.--Randy Brook for Frogpond, A Journal of Haiku Society of America. Adjei Agyei-Baah of Ghana has for some time been an active ha