Halton Libraries are hosting an author event as part of the New Words Festival, a virtual book festival organised by Time To Read.
Author J.A. Mensah joins Halton Borough Council, for a discussion about her debut – Winner of the NorthBound Book Award – Castles from Cobwebs.
The event will take place as a live stream on YouTube on Friday 26 March, 6.30pm.
Tickets are free and can be booked via Halton Libraries website and Eventbrite page.
J.A. Mensah is a writer of prose and theatre. Her plays have focused on human rights narratives and the testimonies of survivors.
Her short stories appear in several collections, including those published by other Northern independent presses. Castles from Cobwebs, her first novel, won the inaugural NorthBound Book Award.
Excerpt from Castles from Cobwebs:
‘I’d always known that I was Brown. Black was different though; it came announced. Black came with expectations, of rhythm and other things that might trip me up.’ Imani is a foundling.Rescued as a baby and raised by nuns on a remote Northumbrian island, she grows up with an ever-increasing feeling of displacement.”
Full of questions, Imani turns to her shadow, Amarie, and her friend, Harold. When Harold can’t find the answers, she puts it down to what the nuns call her “greater purpose”.
At nineteen, Imani answers a phone call that will change her life: she is being called to Accra after the sudden death of her biological mother.
Past, present, faith and reality are spun together in this enthralling debut. Following her transition from innocence to understanding, Imani’s experience illuminates the stories we all tell to make ourselves whole.
Castles from Cobwebs is available to buy from the publisher Saraband on their website and will soon be available to borrow in libraries.
For details on our other New Words events can be found at www.time-to-read.co.uk
