Naa Dedei Botchwey, Winner of Ghana’s Most Beautiful 2020 has published a book. The poetry collection which is titled “Sweet, Sour or Whatever” was first published on 1st October 2021.
Talking about what inspired her to write the book in an exclusive interview with Victrices Books, Naa said “I wrote Sweet Sour or Whatever over a 15-year span. At first, I did not intend to publish it but I started thinking about publishing about 5 years before it actually happened. All that while, I was still writing. Inspiration for my poems came from everything around me. Experiences, people, the pain and joy I felt at different times, etc. I like to remind my readers that each poem has a piece of me in it. It took about two days of on-and-off brainstorming to come up with the title. I wanted something that captured all the different emotions that one would experience when reading the collection, which covers very diverse subjects.”
According to her, writing was an escape or coping mechanism when she was dealing with life’s issues as a teenager and later as a young adult.
The collection includes a wide variety of themes including politics, the environment, feminism, fatherhood, love and relationships, among others.
Naa believes that the book will be loved by most people and has what it takes to become a favorite for the purpose of entertainment, relaxation, emotional companionship and education; however, she admits that not every poem and every opinion she has shared in the book will be celebrated by all, because she touched on some tough subjects. She published them anyway, because part of what makes the book special is how close it is to her personal life, and therefore did not think it was worth hiding parts of her thoughts just because others would not approve.
Naa says she loves to read poetry herself, though she thinks that poetry is one of the least favorite genres of literature. She hopes that with her book, she will be able to help create love for poetry among readers in Ghana and beyond. She hopes to publish more collections in future, however, she will be concentrating on publishing prose/novels next.
When asked what advise she has for young writers hoping to publish, she said “I do not know what is keeping them from publishing, but like everything we aim to achieve, there is no better time than now. Time and tide wait for no one. The recent inflation means that it will cost much more to publish your book now. There are other factors that will affect it also, and as time goes by, conditions will keep changing socially, economically, and personally. The earlier the better is all I can say.”
Sweet Sour or Whatever is currently available on Amazon for $4 and online bookstores: Booknook, Victrices Books and on Readerworld App for GHC50. Students with ID cards can purchase it for GHC30 by calling 0508172994.