John Benibengor Blay

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

John Benibengor Blay (born 1915) was a Ghanaian journalist, writer, publisher and politician, who has been called "the father of popular writing in Ghana".[1] His work encompasses fiction, poetry and drama published in chapbooks that have been compared with Onitsha Market Literature.[2]

Life and career

Blay was born in

Regent Street Polytechnic in London.[3]

He began writing poetry in 1937, publishing stories from the early 1940s onwards.[4] Some of his work was published by his own publishing company, the Benibengor Book Agency, Aboso.

He later became a politician,

National Assembly. He later served as Minister for Art and Culture (1965–66)[6] under Kwame Nkrumah,[3]
about whom he published a biography in 1973.

Works

Stories
Poetry
  • Immortal Deeds, Ilfracombe: Stockwell, 1940.
  • Memoirs of the War, Ilfracombe: Stockwell, 1946
  • King of the Human Frame, Ilfracombe: Stockwell, 1947
  • Thoughts of Youth, Aboso: Benibengor Book Agency, 1961
  • Ghana Sings, Accra: Waterville Publishing House, 1965. With an introduction by Kwame Nkrumah.
Other
  • The Gold Coast Mines Employees' Union, Ilfracombe: Stockwell, 1950
  • On The Air: (B.B.C. Talks), Aboso, 1970
  • Legend of Kwame Nkrumah, 1973
  • The Story of Tata,[7] c. 1976

References

  1. ^ Albert S. Gérard, European-language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa, Volume 2, 1986, p. 833.
  2. ^ Abotsi, Maureen, "J. Benibengor Blay" Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, Ghana Nation, 13 September 2013. From Douglas Killam and Ruth Rowe (eds), The Companion to African Literature (James Currey 2000).
  3. ^ a b G. D. Killam, Alicia L. Kerfoot, Student Encyclopedia of African Literature, Greenwood press, 2008, p. 68.
  4. .
  5. ^ The Sacramento Bee, 24 September 1959, pg. 42
  6. ^ Africa Who's Who, London: Africa Journal for Africa Books Ltd, 1981, p. 230.
  7. Joshua Kwabena Siaw
    ... one of Ghana's most prominent business men".

External links