Nii Ayikwei Parkes

Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a Ghanaian writer, editor, socio-cultural commentator and performance poet. A 2007 recipient of Ghana’s national ACRAG award for poetry and literary advocacy, he has held visiting positions at the University of Southampton and California State University, Los Angeles. Nii’s books include ballast: a remix (shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award), the forthcoming The Makings of You (Peepal Tree) and his début novel, Tail of the Blue Bird (due for release in the US in 2011), which was shortlisted for the 2010 Commonwealth Prize and has been translated into Dutch (De blauwe vogel, Querido) and German (Die Spur des Bienenfressers, UnionsVerlag).

Photograph by Diana Matar