Kwei Quartey Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Interview

Kwei Quartey talks about his childhood in Ghana and his first novel, Wife of the Gods, set in a small Ghanaian community where long-buried secrets are about to rise to the surface.

First of all, how do you pronounce your name?
It's pronounced, "Kway Quart-ay." It is a Ghanaian name. The full version is Jones-Quartey.

Your father was Ghanaian. And your mother?
She's African-American. She met my father while he was studying Political Science at Columbia University, New York. They got married and my mother went with my father back to Ghana.

So, you were born in Ghana?
Yes, all three of my brothers and I were born in Accra, the capital.

Did you live in the city?
Both my parents were university lecturers, and we lived on the campus of the University of Ghana on the outskirts of the city.

Did you have the opportunity to visit the States when you were growing up?
The extra perk the university granted my mother in her official status as an "expatriate" was a fully paid trip to the States for her and her children every two years. So we spent many happy summers in New York. Travel was easy because, born to an American mother, my brothers and I were U.S. citizens by the regulations at the time.

Do you think the university environment as you grew up had a lot to do with your interest in writing?
Undoubtedly. Our house was a treasure trove of books. There were hundreds of books, both ...