The BURIED Book Club discussion

Kojo Laing is a Ghanaian poet turned novelist. He's written four novels and a book of poetry. His novels feature lots of wordplay, unusual use of language(a glossary of local Ghanaian terms as well as words he's coined himself is usually included) and lots of strange things happening. They're also, based on the one I'm currently reading, very funny - lots of comic situations that wouldn't be out of place in Sterne or one of his descendants.
His first two books seem relatively easy to find, second hand or in libraries, but the later novels are much harder to come by, although his most recent book can be bought from the African Books Collective here:(http://www.africanbookscollective.com...). I'm particularly interested in Major Gentl and the Achimota Wars, which is described as a surrealistic science fiction novel.

Bibliography:
Search Sweet Country(1986)
Woman Of The Aeroplanes (1988)
Godhorse (poetry, 1989)
Major Gentl and the Achimota Wars (1992)
Big Bishop Roko and the Alter Gangsters(2006)

Nice! First two acquired.

Cool! The university library has all his books, so I'll be reading some of these soon. Will let you know what I think.

Sounds groovy

Have read "search" - it is fantastic and well worth checking out.

Jimmy wrote: "Cool! The university library has all his books, so I'll be reading some of these soon. Will let you know what I think."
I'd be very interested to hear what the later two are like, since they seem to be very difficult to find anywhere.

I just happened to google his name today and I found that Kojo Laing passed away back in April. there's a few articles about it that talk about his personality and work in more detail:
http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article...

http://brittlepaper.com/2017/05/afric...

this one has some thoughts on his work from various writers that are particularly detailed and should make you want to read him if you don't already:
https://johannesburgreviewofbooks.com...
"He was wittily derogatory about mainstream publishers and the vagaries of critics, encouraging us to ‘Never listen to anyone!’ when it came to our writing. Which is something he did himself. Devoted to his fantastical visions and free of convention, Laing’s career was marked by really brave writing that mixed fantasy, African mythology and questions of the postcolony (the latter, especially, in Search Sweet Country) in entertaining and unexpected ways."

"Kojo Laing is one of the unsung heroes of African fiction. His prose is poetic, and densely packed with strange juxtapositions and more ideas on one page than most writers use for several books. His use of language was masterful."

"He pushes back against the imperatives of realism and seriousness that define the canon of the Anglophone African novel, as it has been established by the series and in the literature departments of Euro-American universities, and treads new paths instead, paths that have been taken up by contemporary writers today."

Just picked up his first two novels off ABE for a total of $7 including shipping. Looking forward to these!

For those who may have missed it, I wrote a relatively hefty review of one of Kojo Laing's most buried books: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'll definitely end up reading everything else I can get my hands on.