Book Signing at Indigo Erin Mills, 19 May 2013

A Wonderful day indeed for Kente Publishing and Mary Ashun!!!!

Book Signing at Chapters!

Kente Publishing can now proudly say that we've had a signing in Chapters! For those outside of Ontario, Canada, this is one of the largest bookstore chains in the world and definitely in Canada. Together with six other authors who were nominated for a MARTY, our own Mary Ashun had her two books on display at the store on Vega Boulevard in Oakville.

iMemoir Club

We're so pleased to introduce Dr. Mary Ashun's new project - the 'iMemoir Club' for all those who want to get their stories out!

Following on the phenomenal success of Tuesday's  Child, we've encouraged Mary to pursue this idea of getting people together to share their stories. Check out her page at www.maryashun.com/iMemoir. Sign up for a local class, or just hang around the blog - we're convinced this will be too much fun to miss!

We're even ready to pursue some of them as Kente Publishing projects...yes we are! But first, check it out and see what it's all about. We're hoping we'll hear from you soon.

Irene

The MARTYS!

So yesterday, we found out all the way in Ghana, West Africa that one of our Authors - Dr. Mary Ashun, has been nominated for a MARTY! This is the annual award given by the Mississauga Arts Council to members of its community who are involved in the arts - literary and visual. Isn't this utterly amazing? We are so proud of you Mary and we're keeping our fingers very crossed for a big win on May 9th, 2013. For more on the MARTYS, click here.

New Author - Dr. Amala Okpala

We're pretty pleased with ourselves here at Kente...we're working on a new novel! The author is Dr. Amala Okpala and it's tentatively titled "Dr. Oppong: Enemy Of The State". It's a cross between Robin Cook and David Baldacci...a medical thriller that races to the very end and the best part of it? It's set in Ghana and the events described will tickle even the most un-political readers! Here's an excerpt:

“Please contact the telephone exchange to get Dr. Fiadjoe for me. Tell her it’s a case of perforation of the stomach secondary to ingestion of a corrosive substance, with massive intra-abdominal bleeding. Tell her I’ll start the operation while I wait for her to come in.”

More intravenous fluids were already been hung onto the drip stands, and the second unit of blood was being warmed up.

Suddenly the monitors started beeping.

We rushed back to the bedside of the patient. The electrocardiograph tracing had flatlined. Since he was still under mechanical ventilation, I just started chest compressions. 

“Get me adrenaline!” shouted the anaesthetist. The matron scurried away, and after a frantic search, had to rush to the theatre to get a vial of adrenaline.

I continued working at the chest, compressing the chest at a regular rate.

After two minutes, the tracing was still flatlining. The matron finally came back, puffing like a beached whale. With an angry glance, the anaesthetist snatched the vial away, drew the amount he needed and gave the shot of adrenaline intravenously.

 I continued working away on the chest feverishly, sweat dripping down my face. 

Three minutes passed.  The alarms were still beeping. The Electrocardiograph tracing was still a line.

The anaesthetist took a pen torch and examined the eyes of the patient. He shook his head sadly.

“No use. He’s dead.”

I stopped the chest compressions, panting heavily, my eyes smarting from the sweat that had gotten into them. Damn it, I thought. After all the hard work?

“What a way to die,” said the anaesthetist sadly. “You’re thinking it was a corrosive substance that caused it eh?”

“Mhmmm” I replied, nodding in agreement. “Why he would that to himself is amazing. There are easier ways of killing yourself than swallowing such a substance!”

The anaesthetist was already leaving.

“Not if it was forced on him,” he replied over his shoulder.

I filled out a post-mortem form quickly, and left the intensive care unit with the bitter taste of defeat in my mouth. I didn’t sleep again till the sun rose. 

No doctor sleeps well after a death on his hands.