New Releases by Kofi Quaye

A Life in Black and White: Memoirs of a Journalist, Publisher, and Witness to History From the heart of post-independence Ghana to the battleground of post-civil rights America, Kofi Quaye’s life has been a journey through journalism, creative arts, and history. As Ghana’s youngest published author, his books published by MacMillan were included in high school curricula. As the youngest editor and public relations officer of a government department, he worked alongside some of the nation’s most influential media figures, including Ellis Komey, editor of London based Flamingo Magazine, and Jimmy Moxon, the British ex-colonial administrator who became a pivotal figure in Ghana’s post-independence media landscape. After immigrating to America, Quaye made history as the first African to own, edit, and publish a Black American newspaper in upstate New York—the Syracuse Gazette. Quaye’s memoir is a rare and powerful fusion of personal narrative, investigative journalism, and historical analysis. His tenure as editor of the Syracuse Gazette brought him to national attention when the newspaper’s photographer was involved in one of America’s first major cases of police brutality. He worked as assistant editor of the AFRO AMERICAN Weekly in New York City, launching groundbreaking coverage of Africa, and his article “African Stereotype” in Essence Magazine challenged global misconceptions about the African continent. A pioneer in publishing, Quaye launched multiple ventures to uplift Black voices. He set up a publishing company and provided editing, proofreading, and publishing services to Black American authors, including the prominent scholar and activist, Dr. Amos Wilson for his book titled The Developmental Psychology of the Black Child. He co-authored Free from Death Road with ex-gangster General Davis, the first book co-written by an African author and a former American gangster, and collaborated with authors from diverse backgrounds, including a pastor and a Trinidadian immigrant. His work established him as a force in both African and Black American media and publishing. This is more than a memoir—it’s a front-row seat to history, a masterclass in journalism, and an unfiltered look at the struggle for Black representation in the media.

Africa is the ideal continent for those seeking the excitement of visiting places considered to be exotic, full of ancient monuments and primitive people. It is also described in travel related books and media as a continent of fascinating cultures, beautiful scenery, extraordinary animals and the best safari and wild game hunting in the world. Nothing short of a tourist paradise. For those with a tourist based interest in Africa, information and data about the African continent are easily accessible on travel websites, books and publications. But there’s a lot more to Africa. To millions of people, Africa represents a continent to be proud of, to call the motherland and to regard as their ancestral home. These are people of African descent from around the globe who relate to Africa in the context of their ancestral connection to the oldest continent on earth and what it means to them. For such people, questions that come to mind include which country to travel to when they decide to visit or repatriate to Africa, are they welcome, how would they cope with the change in cultures, general lifestyles, traditions and social mores they know nothing about. Lately, for those repatriating to live in Africa on a permanent basis, it becomes even more complicated and brings on the absolute necessity of making adequate preparations. This is the main reason for the publication of this book. Our goal is to provide readers with real insight, valuable information and data on current trends in the new Africa with the aim of making it a lot easier for them to have a better understanding of Africa and Africans, regardless of how long they will be in Africa or the reason for going there.

In the beginning, most immigrants from Third World countries look at immigration mainly as a trip to another country specifically for the purpose of pursuing higher education, seeking employment, or both, saving most of their earnings and returning to their native countries where they would enjoy a better life as a result of the funds they bring with them or the higher education and professional credentials they had gained overseas, that can get them better jobs in their native countries. But it doesnt always work out that way. Many get stuck in America, Europe, Australia and other parts of the world. They are trapped, never to return to their native countries. Ultimately, they have to deal with the worst nightmare of most immigrants from Third World countries: their lives end before they can go back home. This book analyses the underlying factors that create the conditions that force men and women to live in overseas countries with cultures they are not used to or dont like and what can be done to avoid becoming a victim.

Let us begin with the notion that there is nothing like a blueprint for a successful dating relationship or marriage. No one can teach anyone how to enter into and maintain a perfect marriage or relationship or avoid the common mistakes people make that wreck marriages and relationships. Not even a counselor, psychologist, or minister or anyone else can provide a plan that can guarantee a successful romance, marriage, love affair, or a dating relationship. There are just too many variables involved that make such a prediction impractical, if not impossible. Relationships, marriages, and love affairs work as a result of the time, effort, and energy put into it by those involved. For some, everything works out just fine and everybody is happy, but sometimes, the opposite happens and the question becomes: why do some succeed, while others fail? It gets even more complicated when one of the two people involved is from another race, country, or culture.

It doesnt take much to become a dead boy walking in America or elsewhere and on a collision course with early death or some other form of youth related violence. For a young African-American named Trayvon Martin, all it took was to run into a young white wanna be police packing a gun and willing to use it. He was shot to death in Sanford, Florida in a tragic case which exploded into the headlines in March 2012. For others, it is driving a nice car in a white neighborhood in a major American city, the way it happened to Syracuse native, Johnnie Gamage in Pittsburgh. He was shot and killed by Pittsburgh police. He was driving a Jaguar owned by his uncle, Ray Seals, formerly of Pittsburgh Steelers football team For Stanley Tookie Williams, popular for all the wrong reasons yet nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, it is for crimes he was charged with and executed as the leader of the CRIPS gang in Los Angeles. For many others too many list to list here, it is being at the wrong place at the wrong time when a drive by-shooting occurs. For many more around the globe, you are a dead boy walking when you are born in a war torn country and are forced into an army as a child soldier.

SUPERSTAR, is the story of Mystique, an African-American super model whose star qualities are based not so much on her beauty than the fact that she represents the unusual and exotic. Her persona captivates the public with its aura of exotic elegance, making her a huge international sensation and a superstar. Mystique is on the top of her game; she is the superstar supermodel in demand for endorsements and movie roles; she has her own label, line of jewelry and perfumes. Her face and name had become iconic. But to stay on top of her game, she has to survive. Her star power and celebrity status bring her into contact with scheming managers, sex hungry account executives, manipulative agency operators, and ruthless bosses who interact with her as business associates, advisers, managers, friends, admirers, and lovers. Some have good intentions. Others have dubious motives, yet all of them are necessary components of the money making machine in she has become in the highly competitive world of fashion modeling with Mystique as the central figure. The underlying themes explored in this novel include people and change, virtue and vice, avarice and greed, crime and punishment, all in the context of the pursuit of the American Dream with the immigrant experience as a backdrop.

CHANGES is the story of a family in crisis; it is the story of an immigrant family trying to cope with life in urban America, about the trauma that cross-cultural conflicts bring, the pressure to conform or do your own thing, against the backdrop of todays America. In order to integrate into the mainstream, or for that matter, pursue the American Dream, can an immigrant family maintain their identity, their native lifestyle, in the turbulent ambiance of urban America or do they succumb to its pressures and change their lifestyle altogether? These are the fundamental questions that most immigrants face, and have to deal with. Many succeed; others fail, while a few just hang in there. The main characters are Ebo, the husband and father; Christina, the wife and mother, and Chris and Lisa, two teenage kids, aged sixteen and eighteen. In the face of overwhelming odds, Ebo tries to maintain control of the family, and tries to do it the only way he knows how; the old fashioned way. Along the way, he runs into a few characters that expose him to some of the diversity on the American social, cultural and political landscape.

What happens when a hardcore American thug and hustler meets a young African wannabe gangsta in New York? Culture shock for the African when he finds out the real deal in the thug life, in the hood, in the mean streets of America, that wearing the wrong colors can get you killed, that being at the wrong place at the wrong time can be a fatal mistake. Culture shock for the American gangsta when the African pulls his girl, because she finds him real and grounded among other things. Together, the unlikely pair go up against the big boys and end up with more problems than they bargained for.

This book will inform and educate the general public on illegal immigration and its effects not only on those directly involved in the process, but on the general population as well. Writing about it in the context of its impact on contemporary society seems to be the best way to do it. How the different media view it, the degree to which the public has been influenced to view the question of immigration in the United States, Europe and elsewhere are included in the issues discussed, analyzed and elaborated on, as we attempt to look at the process of immigration, legal and illegal, from the standpoint of its impact on society as a whole. If some of the stories seem to be familiar, it is because the people are real, and the things they talk about actually happened. They are essentially true stories told by people who want to share their real-life experiences. Only in a few instances have names been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

Voodoo and the Holy Ghost. Sin and Redemption. The Immigrant Experience and Life in the Native Country. White Supremacists Against Black Nationalists. These are some of the powerful themes explored in this book by a man who lived and experienced both the best and the worst of both worlds. Haunted by a lurking fear of a ‘curse’ he was told he might have inherited from his father as the first born son, he sought to escape the ‘voodoo’ by emigrating first to St. Croix and the Virgin Islands and from there to the United States where he began to pursue the American Dream. It was smooth sailing in the beginning: a good job, lots of cash, a happy marriage, beautiful children and a great family life. Then it all came tumbling down. Suddenly he seemed to have forgotten about his family, his goal of working to save money to go back home to help his family, and blew it all on ‘good time’ It was: women, booze, drugs. He paid the ultimate prize with a failed marriage, disgruntled children and a disappointed family. He almost lost his life when he ran into angry white ‘union brothers’, who hated Black people, called him a nigger and tried to kill him. Yet through it all, he managed to hold on to his dignity, with his faith in God, pride in his heritage and dedication to his children.

The stories you won''t read in the newspapers or see on television: the traumas, the tragedies, the problems and challenges immigrants face in the countries they emigrate to: the increasing numbers of suicides in Third World immigrant communities worldwide, the unexplained premature deaths, the disappearances of people who are never found, the horror stories of immigrants exploited by unscrupulous employers.

This series of fiction and non-fiction books is designed for children and teenagers learning English as a second language. As well as helping young readers to develop their vocabulary and language skills, the books in the series are graded on four levels. On the fourth level of the Mactracks series, this language reader relates the story of Jojo when he lands in New York. At first he finds everything new and exciting - but something happens on his very first night in the city which troubles him. As he tries to find out more about the mystery, he faces trouble and danger. Who can he trust in this strange place, so far from his home in Accra?

Mactracks is a series of fiction and non-fiction books for children and teenagers learning English as a second language. The titles are graded according to the reader''s age, interests and language skills. Although intended to meet an educational need, care has been taken to ensure that the books are far more than simple texts for reading practice.