Dr. Ashun on CitiFM 97.3

Dr. Ashun, author of The Adventures of Monty Horton, Mistress of the Game and Serwa Akoto's diary was on a panel of lit lovers on Citi FM, Ghana. Thanks to Martin Egblewogbe (of Writers Project of Ghana) who was such a good host! Get the books at the Accra Mall Silverbird Lifestyles Store or on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Sample Chapters now available!

Which better way to tease you than by sharing some chapters from our books with you? We have uploaded chapters from our novels onto Google docs - as a collection. Click here to access them (free of charge)  and let us know what you think!

Read chapters from:
Mistress of Game
Serwa Akoto's Diary
Adventures of Kobby Badu-Smith
Rain On My Leopard Spots
A Single Bracelet Does Not Jingle

Enjoy!

Dr. Mary Ashun on TV in Mississauga

Dr. Ashun has just finished wrapping up a 4-week shooting schedule for her new show Book 'Em! Read more about it here.

We are going to Beijing!

You heard right! Kente Publishing has just signed an agreement with Purple SeaShell Agency for representation in China (including Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao). Our Rights catalogue will be added to what they are offering at the Beijing International Book Fair which runs from August 31 - Sept 4, 2011. Keep your fingers crossed for us...

Take a look at our August Rights Catalogue. It will continue to expand - you know it!

Our author featured on three e-zines!

Dr. Mary Ashun's essay titled "Toward a certain liberation' has been featured in three prestigious e-zines - Women Doing Literary Things, She Writes and Gender Across Borders

Click on the links to check out the article!

How to read our books on your PC or Mac

Hi avid readers,

Thank you for your patience as you figure out how to get an e-copy of Mistress of the Game to read! We appreciate it immensely.

Our techies here at Kente have suggested the following to help you easily download the FREE application for your PC or Mac.
Just go to Download Kindle for PC  or Download Kindle for Mac and the step-by-step instructions will have your Kindle on your computer in just a few minutes. Alternatively, if you have an iphone, you can get the app through the itunes store, also for FREE. Unfortunately, the Kindle for Blackberry is for US customers only.

Thanks again...and please give us some feedback!

~Leopard~

Newest Review of Mistress of the Game!

Now out on Amazon, we are hearing amazing things about Mistress of the Game. One reader in Ghana just sent us this email:

I just could not stop reading - once i started. And i could really relate to the places you talked about - and the intrigue/the plot - excellent book! I love Sarah's mother!!!!! and Jason and Araba - i just could not believe what was happening and the pace of it all!!!! Great mix - great book!                                      ~A.L, Ghana~

This is just a taste of things to come dear readers...Kente is 'gonna catch 'em all'!

~Leopard~

Our 'fon' books set to roll out in the Fall!

Although all our works will be available in softcover and as e-books (on Amazon), we are excited at ways that we can reach the African market. As such, we have just signed an agreement with Mobile Content - a Ghanaian based company - to have our books delivered by phone! Kente is the first ever company (in Ghana and probably Africa!) to do this and we are absolutely thrilled that the 74% penetration that mobile phones have in Ghana will be put to some good use :)

Now the next question is...which of our books will be first up? We will have the following categories available for download - short shorts, Novellas, Novels, Religious and Kids. At the moment, this is the line up we are going to start off with:

Short Shorts

1. Ayele's Dilemma (see teaser excerpt on this site)
2. Gifty: A chase to catch the elusive prize...and you'll be surprised at what the prize is!

Novellas

1. The Funeral: Ridiculous family shenanigans at a Ghanaian Funeral
2. The House: What do you do when squatters have moved into your beautiful, hilltop house in the Akropong Hills and you are three thousand miles away in Canada?
3. The Brother: A man thinks he has seen his long lost brother at the Ahenfie Hotel. Is it really him? After forty years?
4. The Medicine Man: Selling herbal medicine on a bus is a tedious job; Sometimes a death can make all the difference!
5. Tamar: Sleeping with your father-in-law is NOT what you are supposed to do. Tamar did it though...
6. Haggai: She did her duty and bore a son for Abraham. So why is she running away?
7. A Spy in the ER: Dr. Oppong's dying patient thrusts an SD card into his hand. What could possibly be on it and could it have something to do with why he is now being followed?

Novels

1. Mistress of the Game: Politics of Oil, Life with AIDS, Infertility and Mother-in-laws...which is the worst?
2. Serwa Akoto's Diary: A peak into the life of a 20-something, self-obsessed Ghanaian girl who embarks on a daring experiment to snag the man of her dreams.

Scripts

The Story of an Hour - African Adaptation of Kate Chopin's classic.

Religious

1. When in Rome: Daily Bible Devotionals from the book of Romans
2. Genesis Corp: A contemporary re-telling of the Adam & Eve Story

Kids 

Science Adventure Chapter Books

1. The Adventures of Kobby Badu Smith: A Space Adventure
2. The Adventures of Kobby Badu Smith: A Sweet Adventure
3. The Adventures of Kobby Badu Smith: A Poolside Adventure

Fairy Tales (Western Fairytales re-set in Africa)

The Chief's New Clothes


We'd love to hear from you - which are you just dying to read?

Leopard

Have you heard of 1000 awesome things?

Leopard here....I just came across this yesterday and wondered why it took someone so long to write this: 1000 Awesome Things' and apparently, there's another one called 1000 Even More Awesome things! Examples you ask? See what I just ripped off from their  this awesome site

#227 When you finally get rid of that thing that’s been rolling around the trunk of your car forever

It haunts you on every turn.
The muted thump of that half-filled water bottle, grass-stained golf ball, or pair of skates clanging against the side of your trunk. And you think it’s annoying, and you think you’ll get rid of it, but when you arrive at your destination it’s suddenly about getting out, getting in, and getting it tomorrow.
That’s what makes it great when the glorious day finally comes.
When you clean out the trunk and it sounds like
AWESOME!

Terry's 2nd Class!

Yes I know I am 1 day late in posting this but can I tell you how I am still drooling over how interesting and insightful the class on Wednesday June 08/11 was!

Note to Self: Please make sure you look out for other classes/readings/ by Terry. Fun times

Podcasting was the subject for this class. Yah, yah I know. I can almost hear some of you social media aficionados and geeks saying that this is so yesterday…well some in the class were striving so hard to get past the concept of YouTube downloads and podcast downloads! Terry taught on the benefits for writers when using this media. This is especially if you are thinking of seriously putting your name and work out there.

Benefits of Podcasting. Terry gave us about 6 of them but will tease you with only 1! 

Benefit #1: Even a writer with an “almost” well-produced podcast is sure to build an audience or following of his/her work(s). After posting his first novel The Best Laid Plans, chapter by chapter on his website Terry got a following from as far off as Asia, Australia, Scotland, and even South Africa. Of course that led to sale of the next novel The High Road and he has just signed on for a third novel and the book isn’t even written yet!

Have you podcasted before and how easy did you find it?

Tiger

It's another week

Hi Booklovers,
Here's hoping this week is just as exciting as last week was (if last week was exciting for you!).  I'm reading Paulo Coelho's "The Fifth Mountain' on my Sony E-reader and liking it quite a bit. The story is about Elijah - biblical Elijah but it's not preachy at all; infact it can be a bit irreverent in some places but that makes it that much more realistic. I don't know about you but Elijah used to come across as this old man, long beard, holy as *el* and not too human...you know what I mean? He was a prophet for crying out loud! Coelho makes him fall in love, doubt his calling from God and have major moments where he wishes he were dead. Talk about the humanity of it all....
Ok - gotta go back and try and finish it!

Leopard

Teaser Excerpt - Serwa Akoto's Diary

Serwa is a twenty-something year old teacher in Toronto struggling to maintain her identity as a black woman while realizing that dating white guys is not helping that image! All her Ghanaian friends tell her she needs to fatten up – black guys want something to hold on to for crying out loud. How is she going to nab that elusive Ghanaian man and when she does, will he be totally worth it?
Excerpt from Serwa’s Diary – 

September 15th…The Outdooring
I’m going to make up for not writing in my diary for a couple of days.

Teaser Excerpt - Ayele's Dilemma

This is from one of our short-shorts...less than five pages long and destined to be a smash hit as one of our unique 'fonebooks'  [Yes Ghana - you will be reading amazing stories like this on your phone because Kente is just the bomb!]:

Excerpt from Chapter 1
It paid to be patient. I had always known that, and if nothing at all, I could recall my grandmother’s voice admonishing me to be patient in all situations and never chase after a man. However, grandmother had gone into the other world for a while now and couldn’t possibly know that this time, I was actually going to chase after a man for a different reason. I had to agree with her though, that it does pay to be patient. However, my patience with Kofi had ran thin and I was about to end a relationship that had been going nowhere from the beginning.

As usual, he was about a half hour late for the date, and as he eventually came speeding up to the house in his latest toy, I could not help but wonder what had kept me glued to this man for two solid years. Sex? Maybe, because it had always been good, but then as my dear friend Esi was fond of saying, ‘you don’t marry sex, you marry the man’. In this case, the man, Kofi was not marriage material and though I had known that for some time now, I had made excuses. Don’t get me wrong, I am not callous; I had loved Kofi and had excused his occasional cheating, but not anymore because I had to move on.

“Ayele, how was work today?” He asked as soon as he ushered himself into my living room. Not Ayele, you look lovely or what is this you’re wearing? I guess I should not care anymore or should I?

“Work was fine, Kofi.”
He made himself comfortable next to me on the couch and took hold of my hands in his, staring at me with unreadable, disturbing eyes. Here was I, trying to find words to end a two year relationship and yet as I stared back at him, mesmerised, I knew instinctively that Kofi had something important to tell me.

Would the magnitude of his news surpass mine?


Tiger 

Teaser Excerpt - Mistress Of The Game

Coming Fall 2011
A story about love, oil, politics and the machinations of scheming mothers! Quarterfinalist in the 2011 Amazon/Penguin Breakthrough Novel Award.
Published by Kente...who else?

Excerpt from Chapter 6
Maggie called Ceci’s Nigerian cell phone number and had to leave a message; she was probably turning off her phone since she’d be charged for cell phone roaming while in Canada. She tried the Holiday Inn in Mississauga where her sister was staying for her two-week immigration fact-finding trip to Canada.
“Hello?” said a white voice. Must be the receptionist at the Front Desk.
Margaret put on her best British accent.
“Yes, Hallo. I was wondering if you could put me through to Rm 202…Cecilia Akinyemi, spelled A-K-I-N-Y-E-M-I.
“Please hold”.
She did and the front desk put her through to Ceci’s room. After the sixth ring, just as she was about to hang up, Ceci took the call.
“Hello?”

Terry Fallis is Cool!

Our Acquisitions staff (Leopard & Tiger...just our spynames!) attended a class yesterday taught by Terry Fallis at U of T! Yes - Terry Fallis! He of the'Best Laid Plans' fame. Lovely man - so patient with newbie writers and bloggers and full of real advice about the writing life. It was awesome also to be sitting in the same room with GG nominees and short-listed authors, other self-pubbed authors and those just looking to tell their 'thang'...

Tiger will update us on the next few weeks about the writing life - podcasting, blogging...generally getting your 'thang' out there. In the meantime, take a look at some of the excerpts of books Kente is planning to publish soon...we're jigging it, word!

Leopard

Kente Publishing is born!

Kente Publishing... bringing honour, prestige and colour to African Publishing!