User:Nachampong

In addition to journalism, Nana Achampong is also known in different obscure corners of the world as a filmmaker, a fine artist, a music producer, a writer and a television producer/director. It is obvious though after combing through the general body of his works that his first love is the art of writing. Little wonder, he dropped out of graduate school in the middle of an MBA program in 1993 to publish his own monthly entertainment magazine, ‘The Wind’, which was dedicated exclusively to new literary writings and the urban African arts scene.

The controversial African icon, the late Fela Anikula poKuti, after his second of several encounters with Achampong in the late 1980s, told a radio host of the poet’s writing style: “he does acrobatics with the English language. That is how Africans mus’ be. Whatever it is that has been pushed onto you, you have to excel at it and then reproduce it in your own unique African way. And that is what he is doing.”

Achampong’s first book of verse, ‘The Equilibrists’, was published in 1995 to rave critical reviews. His second volume of verse ‘Floating’ was published on Lulupress March 2006. ‘Dream a Song’, a satirical observation of African urban lifestyles complete with newspaper and scholarly anecdotes was released on March 18. The recurring theme in Dream A Song as in most of Achampong’s other works encompasses his childhood influences of African culture, antiquity, a schizophrenic social conditioning and the quest for love and the divine.

Achampong's fourth and fifth works, ‘My Kikuyu Princess’, a collection of poems, and ‘The Blue Caribbean’, set in Baltimore Maryland, are scheduled to hit the stands Winter, 2006.

Achampong, who was born in Cape Coast, Ghana, currently lives in Maryland where he writes, paints and freelances for the 'Afro' newspaper.

About "Dream A Song":

In Ansong’s world,nothing is sacred. Except facts. His uninhibited disposition drags one through a wretched yet hopeful Africa that is lived everyday yet remains unseen by outsiders.

Through his warped sense of logic, one is ushered into an analysis, nay dissection, of the fundamental tenets of West African urban life: the middleclass which he describes as “a bunch of privileged, pampered plonkers [undergoing] an awesome abortion"; the press, “a conduit for nonsense”; tribalism, a virtue; and, Nigeria, the cause of everyone’s problems.

Achampong tackles these and other sensitive pressing issues through discussions among a motley assortment of opinionated nincompoops and Ansong’s own twisted observations, fantasies and nightmares.

"Dream A Song" is like a strange feast of foreign food – delicious, spicy, sometimes utterly repulsive in an empathetic way, but always leaving one with a funny lingering aftertaste.

About .F.L.O.A.T.I.N.G.:

“From the daily death of the sun to the cry of a sister for the life of a brother, from [John] Coltrane’s melodic place in history to the griot’s spoken path creating history, we view places seen and unseen. Paths traveled with timeworn shoes and an international vision. Pain and joy from a heart full from the sights of many missions,” Sandi Mallory, WEAA 88.9 FM, Lite FM, Baltimore.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON NANA S.ACHAMPONG, visit WWW.lulu.com/achampong.