Children's & YA
September 2014
On 13 June 1873 British forces bombarded Elmina town in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and destroyed it. To this day it has not been rebuilt. Later that same year, using seaborne artillery, the British flattened ten coastal towns and villages – including Axim, Takoradi and Sekondi. On 6th February, 1874, after looting the Asantehene’s palace in Kumase, British troops blew up the stone building and set the city on fire, razing it to the ground.
15-year old Kofi Gyan witnesses these events and records them in his diary. This novel, first published soon after the 140th anniversary of the sack of Kumase, tells his story.
Several historical characters feature in the novel: the Asantehene Kofi Karikari, the war correspondents Henry Morton Stanley and G. A. Henty and the war artist of the Illustrated London News, Melton Prior, who employs Kofi as his assistant.
The novel is illustrated with 70 black and white images, mainly from the Illustrated London News of 1873 and 1874
The image on the front cover is of a solid gold mask looted from the Asantehene’s palace. It now resides in the vaults of the Wallace Collection in London.
The Boy who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye is one of three winners of the 2013 Burt Award for African Literature in Ghana.
The Burt Award for African Literature recognises excellence in young adult fiction from African countries. It supports the writing and publication of high quality, culturally relevant books and ensures their distribution to schools and libraries to help develop young people’s literacy skills and foster their love of reading. The Burt Award is generously sponsored by the Canadian philanthropist, Bill Burt, and is part of the ongoing literacy programmes of the Ghana Book Trust and of CODE, a Canadian NGO which has been supporting development through education for over 50 years.
The Burt Award includes the guaranteed purchase of 3000 copies of the winning books for free distribution to secondary school libraries.
