Ghana
Fui Can-Tamakloe is a fiction author, audio dramatist and screenwriter based in Accra, Ghana. He co-authored "Made in Ghana: A Collection of Short Stories" and has four children's books to his name. Fui's works have appeared both in print and online. He enjoys cold beers, great books, and slow traveling. He writes in English and Ghanaian Pidgin.
Contact: [email protected]
Works:
2017: He co-authored and self-published ‘Made in Ghana: A Collection of Short Stories’ with Rodney Assan. He was also a contributor for the ‘Kenkey For Ewes & Other Very Short Stories’ anthology published by Flash Fiction Ghana and DAkpabli Publishers.
In 2019 his work appeared in Tampered Press.
2020 his works appeared in EMY Africa Magazine, Kalahari Review, Afreada Literary Magazine, Tampered Press, Flash Fiction Ghana, and Contemporary Ghanaian Writers Series.
In 2021 his story was selected in the maiden printed edition of Afreada Literary Magazine. He also contributed to the She Dares to Say blog, and Ghana Magazine. Fui worked as a scriptwriter on 'The Adventures of Mani', an animation project by Buyu Tales.
In 2022 his works were featured in ‘Tsooboi’ an anthology published collectively by Tampered Press and Black Girls Glow. He got published in a special edition of TSA Art Magazine - TSA Collector’s Series: Artists & Cities. He appeared in the maiden edition of the Writers Project Ghana’s Journal and had a story in Issue 4 of Adda’s Speak OUT! collection. An audio-drama he co-wrote was released that year. Fui also worked with NNF Esquire Ltd to produce original stories for their English Textbook series for basic school level, as well as supplementary readers for children.
In 2023, his historical fiction story set in 1960s Ghana about the 80,000 people displaced by the building of the Akosombo Dam in Ghana and the resulting formation of the Volta Lake was published by The Or Foundation as part of the Agbetsi Living Water Expedition: Untold Stories of the Volta Project. Yet another historical fiction story set in Nigeria appeared in Nigerian publication Za!
2024: Children's books written by Fui, titled "Zulfiqar's Return", "The Moonlight Boy", "A Salty Adventure", and "Darkor's Big Secret" were published by NNF Esquire as part of the SDG Changemakers Series. Fui also launched an audio drama titled "They Have Drowned Our Land", funded by a grant from The Or Foundation.
Judgeship
2020: He was appointed a judge for the maiden edition of the Samira Bawumia Literature Prize.
2021: He served as a mentor for the SprinNG Writing Fellowship. He was also a judge for ‘Thousand for a Thousand’ a flash fiction competition organised by Flash Fiction Ghana.
2022: He was again appointed a judge for the second edition of the Samira Bawumia Literature Prize. He was a mentor for the SprinNG Writing Fellowship.
Volunteering:
Here are some literary organisations Fui contributes to by volunteering:
Contemporary Ghanaian Writer's Series
Flash Fiction Ghana
Writers Project Ghana
Accra Writing Experiment
The Nami Podcast
"I am in water. Floating. Swimming. I expand across the aqueous surface like a fisherman’s net. I feel the presence of ten thousand beings. Dead. Alive. Natural. Otherwordly. I am the water. A part of a vast whole. It whispers a tongue too ancient for me to understand. It calls itself by a name so powerful it fades before I can remember it. This is a dream, I am sure of it. But I cannot yet wake. I cannot…"
1. Don't Worry About a Thing Today begins with anticipation and reggae. Seven am. The last time I was up this early was before the pandemic, and I hadn't yet lost my job. I turn on the shower and rub some soap into a sponge. I am smiling.
You look down at Joseph, sitting dead in a wooden chair underneath the coolness of an Indian Almond tree, and become suddenly aware of everything. The half-burned mosquito coil scenting the air, the rustling of the night breeze through the tree leaves, the dim light of the night sky, the heavy breathing of the traumatised boy standing next to you, and your own racing heart. But Joseph sits, oblivious to the world, looking peaceful; more asleep than dead.
"If you’ve ever been to Kotokuraba you will agree that it is a fascinating place, as markets generally tend to be for those who don’t frequent them often. The market begins or ends, depending on how you look at it, at the entrance of the Mfantsipim School, Ghana’s oldest secondary school, and is sprawling with sellers trading in so many different things, all determined to get you to pay more than their goods are worth. But this isn’t a story about me, or about the traders who tried to cheat...
"I start dey think of how the British people no make I learn my own languages. I dey think of the schools wey dey Ghana, wey still dey paint *No Speaking Vernacular* for the walls top. I dey think of all the times wey as we be kiddies we laugh more niggas sekof them dey mix mix Ble then demma house language."
"Some time I ask Danny why sey e no dey make we all beat thief as we catch am. He watch my face small tell me sey thief be the one wey dem catch. We all dey steal. Oko dey steal. Thunder dey steal. Memuna sef if she come bed wona room we dey hide everything from phone charger to jot. Thief be the one wey them catch."
"To control your dream, you must first be aware you’re dreaming. I learned how to control my dreams in kindergarten. I started with daydreams. I had this trick I mastered when I was a toddler in creche. You look at the teacher and pretend to be paying attention, and then you allow your mind to wander."
The bus inside make cold. I sit inside VIP buses most of my university years, and the few years wey come after that, but today, for the first time, I no fit sleep for inside. I no fit sleep sekof I dey think. That be the thing nobody dey tell you as you dey grow. Adulthood all be thinking. If you wake up you dey think about how your day go start. If e start, you dey think about how e go end. You dey bed inside, you dey think of job. You dey job side, you dey think of bed. All be thinking....
"The first time a politician had come to talk to them about electricity, the old men had been young men. They had come in military vehicles and a man that had spoken to them about electricity had promised them connectivity in a month. A week later, a contractor had appeared with logs of timber, and they had begun the erection of electricity poles. But that government hadn’t lasted and the poles were left to rot with no electrical wires in them."
