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Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

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Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
BornPlattsburgh, New York
OccupationWriter
NationalityAmerican-Ghanaian
EducationMfantsiman Girls' Secondary School
Alma materVassar College
GenreFiction, poetry
Website
www.nanabrewhammond.com

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond (born October 5) is an American-Ghanaian writer of novels, short stories and a poet. She has written for AOL, Parenting Magazine, the Village Voice, Metro and Trace Magazine. Her short story "Bush Girl" was published in the May 2008 issues of African Writing and her poem "The Whinings of a Seven Sister Cum Laude Graduate Working Board as an Assistant" was published in 2006's Growing up Girl Anthology. A graduate of Vassar College in the United States, she attended secondary school in Ghana, and her 2010 young-adult book Powder Necklace is loosely based on that experience.[1] In 2014, she was chosen as one of 39 of Sub-Saharan Africa's most promising writers under the age of 40, showcased in the Africa39 project[2] and included in the anthology Africa39: New Writing from Africa South of the Sahara (edited by Ellah Wakatama Allfrey).[3][4][5] She is also a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.[6]

Personal life and education

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She was born in the United States in Plattsburgh, New York, but her parents moved the family to Queens, where Brew-Hammond grew up before, at the age of 12, being sent back to Ghana, with her siblings, to attend secondary school by her parents. She went to one of the more prestigious girls secondary school in Ghana, Mfantsiman Girls' Secondary School in the Central Region. She is a cum laude graduate of Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY.[7]

Writing career

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In 2010, Brew-Hammond's young adult novel Powder Necklace was published, a coming-of-age story that draws on some of her own experiences.[8] She is also the author of Blue: A History of the Color As Deep As the Sea and as Wide as the Sky, a children's picture book, illustrated by Daniel Minter, that was published in 2022, as was Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices, of which she was editor. Her debut novel for adults, entitled My Parents' Marriage, was published in 2024.[9][10][11]

In 2014, Brew-Hammond was selected as one of the most promising African authors under 39 featured in the Hay Festival-Rainbow Book Club Project Africa39, in celebration of UNESCO's designation of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, as 2014 World Book Capital, and her story "Mama's Future" was included in the associated anthology edited by Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, Africa39: New Writing from Africa South of the Sahara (Bloomsbury).[2][12][13] Brew-Hammond was shortlisted for the 2014 Miles Morland Writing Scholarship.[14]

Also a style and culture writer, Brew-Hammond has been featured on MSNBC, NY1, SaharaTV, and ARISE TV, and has been published in Ebony Magazine, Ethiopian Airlines' Selamata Magazine, EBONY.com, The Village Voice, on NBC's thegrio.com, and MadameNoire.com, among other outlets".[15] Her short story "After Edwin" is included in the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.[6]

Selected writings

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Books

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  • Powder Necklace (YA novel), 2010[16]
  • Blue: A History of the Color As Deep As the Sea and as Wide as the Sky (for children; illustrated by Daniel Minter), 2022
  • (As editor) Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices, 2022
  • My Parents' Marriage (novel), 2024

Shorter writings

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  • "Bush Girl"[17]
  • "The Whinings of a Seven Sister Cum Laude Graduate Working Bored as an Assistant"[18]
  • "The African Renaissance", Mosaic magazine, 18 May 2015[19]
  • "That Dudley in winter," Jaedyn Produces, 8 July 2024

Interviews

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References

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  1. ^ Brew-Hammond, Nana Ekua (2010). Powder Necklace. New York: Washington Square. ISBN 9781439126103.
  2. ^ a b Busby, Margaret (April 10, 2014), "Africa39: How we chose the writers for Port Harcourt World Book Capital 2014", The Guardian.
  3. ^ Africa39 "list of artists", Hay Festival.
  4. ^ Farrington, Joshua (8 April 2014). "Africa39 list of promising writers revealed". The Bookseller. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Africa39 Authors Biographies", hayfestival.com. Archived November 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ^ a b Hubbard, Ladee (May 10, 2019), "Power to define yourself | The diaspora of female black voices", TLS.
  7. ^ "Literary Style". Essence. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Powder Necklace". WOW Review. Vol. VIII, no. 2. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  9. ^ Kwarteng, Francis (6 August 2024). "New Novel Takes on the Customary Practice of Polygamy in Ghana". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  10. ^ Brewer, Robert Lee (11 July 2024). "Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond: On Creating Opportunities for Conversation". Writer's Digest. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  11. ^ Brew-Hammond, Nana Ekua (29 March 2024). "'I Am Drawn to Stories That Tackle Complicated Family Relationships' | Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond's First Draft". The Republic. Nigeria. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  12. ^ Forbes, Malcolm (23 October 2014). "Continental drift: Africa39, an anthology of writing from south of the Sahara, is too good to miss". The National. Abu Dhabi. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  13. ^ "I endured four years of rejection to get my book published – Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond". Moonchild's Temple. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  14. ^ "Winners Announced for the 2014 Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship for African Writers". Opportunities for Africans. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  15. ^ "Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond". Goodreads.
  16. ^ a b Simon & Schuster Books (18 March 2010). "Author Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond Discusses the Inspiration for Her Debut Novel, Powder Necklace". Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  17. ^ "Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond | Bush Girl". African Writing (4). May 2008. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  18. ^ "Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond". aalbc.com. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  19. ^ Brew-Hammond, Nana Ekua (18 May 2015). "The African Renaissance". Mosaid Magazine. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  20. ^ "Author Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond speaks to WomenWerk on advocacy, inspirations and keeping a day job". WomenWerk.com. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  21. ^ Fredua-Agyeman, Nana (20 August 2010). "An Interview with Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, author of Powder Necklace". ImageNations. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
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