Benjamin Kwakye

By: Benjamin Kwakye

Eyes of the Slain Woman ($20 – Click to Purchase, ISBN: 978-1-937536-20-6, Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-68114-174-9, LCCN: 2011946296, 2011): This is a collection of three novellas that each explore grief and the tenacity of the human spirit.  In Echoes of Hungry Blood, Solo, a disenchanted doctor leaves his practice in the city to work in a small town, where he is presented with the challenge of caring for those who have committed crimes against his family.  His decision has severe ramifications that lead to regret and eventual deliverance.  In The Last Next, Solo returns to the city and remarries.  His new wife is soon diagnosed with a terminal illness.  Unable to cope with the pain, she asks him to euthanize her.  His agreement and the ensuing trial and conviction for murder become a journey of growth and redemption. Eyes of the Slain Woman narrates the harrowing experiences of Ma Ebo, a long-widowed woman, following the murder of her son.  Through the prodding of a friend, she is persuaded to visit her son’s murderer in prison and in the process find healing and the liberation of forgiveness.

Benjamin Kwakye is the author of The Clothes of Nakedness (1998), The Sun by Night (2005), The Other Crucifix (2010) and Legacy of Phantoms (2011).  He has won the regional Commonwealth Writers Prize in both the Best First Book (1998) and Best Book (2006) categories.  He also won the 2011 IPPY Award for Best Adult Multicultural Fiction.  The Clothes of Nakedness was adapted for radio as a BBC Play of the Week.  He was born in Accra, Ghana and holds degrees from Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School.