Acknowledgments

I’m a huge fan of Akashic Books’ Noir Series. It occurred to me one day that I’d never seen a collection of noir stories set in Accra. When I mentioned that to my friend Kenji Jasper, he wrote an e-mail introducing me to the publisher so that I could send him a proposal. Thank you, Kenji. Without you, this book might never have happened.

Accra, Ghana, is in the Greenwich Mean Time zone, but the joke there is that GMT really stands for Ghanaman Time. For one time-challenged editor and over a dozen time-challenged writers to actually make it through all the various deadlines and produce such a wonderful book is nothing short of a miracle. I have enjoyed every past-due minute of this experience.

Thank you to all the contributors for your creativity, perseverance, and, most of all, your love of Accra, with all its beauty, sass, and dysfunction.

It saddens me deeply that Kofi Blankson-Ocansey, who worked so hard on his story, passed away before it was published. Kofi’s brilliance was impressive and his fascination with all things Ghanaian—especially the cultural history of neighborhoods like Jamestown, the one in which his story is set—was infectious. I am so proud to feature his work in this anthology. Kofi, you are sorely missed, my friend.

Thank you to my dear friend Greg Tate, and my daughter Korama Danquah, for offering their editorial skills when I wanted a second opinion or another set of eyes.

Ga, Twi, and Dagbani—the three indigenous languages that are used in some of these stories—are, quite sadly, spoken much more frequently than they are written. As a result, words, many of which have digraphs and diphthongs, are often (mis)spelled phonetically, or anglicized. Also, there are letters in our alphabet that do not exist in English or other Romance languages and cannot be found on most keyboards. In fact, African languages are often dismissively (and colonially) referred to as simple dialects. I would like to extend my gratitude to Mr. William Boateng and Mr. Lawrence Sandow with the Bureau of Ghana Languages, specialists in Twi and Dagbani, respectively; and Ms. Naomi Aryee, Ga teacher at Accra Girls’ Senior High School, for their assistance with the spelling and grammar of words in our local languages. Meda mo ase papaapa.

This book could not have been completed without the support and friendship of my ride-or-die Accra girls: Ama Dadson, Christa Sanders, Aretha Amma Sarfo, Esta Twum, and Nana Oye Lithur. Thank you for all the banku and tilapia; for all the trips here, there, and everywhere around the city (and even to Koforidua) in search of beads and cloth, my two all-time weaknesses; for listening, laughing, and supporting me however I needed it.

Thanks also to Jeffery Renard Allen, my brother from another mother, for the daily chats and texts, the inspiration and wonderful advice with all things literary and life.

To Andrew Solomon: thank you for everything, the all of it, up and down, through and through. Love is this; friendship is this.

It has been a great privilege to work with Johnny Temple, publisher of Akashic Books. I so admire your vision for a reverse-gentrification publishing house and I am thrilled to be a part of what you have created. Thank you for offering me this wonderful opportunity to shine a spotlight on Accra.

A huge thank you to my cousin Kwasi Twum, for being such an amazing brother, friend, and human being; for always making me feel worthy; and for helping to heal so much of what was broken.

To everyone else who helped, in one way or another, to make this book come together, I would like to say thank you. I am very grateful.

 

—Nana-Ama Danquah