Kofi P Baidoo Jnr

Realities Trapped in Ink Kofi P Baidoo Jnr

Realities Trapped in Ink is a refreshingly provocative and eclectic collection of writing on a wide range of topics that speak to, about and for the generic to the eccentric. The work speaks to both collective and individual consciousness and streams of thought. Like art, the topics are conversation pieces that reveal the thought processes and lived realities of the writer. For instance, while Waiting Trials is personal it is an entry point into discourses of colonialism and law, the political economy of legal practice and courtroom architecture. State of the Nation on the other hand is a poignant commentary on Ghana's progress as a postcolonial nation. The author masters the art of craftily combining poetry with fiction, prose and social commentary on post-colonial statehood, making it a fine sociological look-book. Kofi's subjects are everyday people; their struggles are personal and political - making the book an indulgence in self-reflection of sorts. For most of us, thinking and writing come in ad hoc pieces as reflected in Realities Trapped in Ink. We do not systematically engage one singular topic for pages on end. Instead, we write a little poetry, a little prose and a little political commentary. We are silly, serious, melancholic and sanguine in our daily lives. This is what Realities Trapped in Ink is. It is a glimpse of life; disjunctures of postcolonial humanist conditions and wrestlings. I highly recommend this book to and for general readership. Dr. Sylvia Bawa, Associate ProfessorYork University, Toronto, Canada