Kumi William DuBois: “This book called ‘Beautiful Africa’ is the beauty of Africa painted in words”

A young and rising Ghanian poet

• The people, the natural resources and the culture is enough to say Africa is beautiful.
• Readers who visit his blog always find good poems on daily basis.

Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and WordPress

By: Alberto Berenguer and Frank Osei Nyame

Kumi William DuBois, Ghanian poet

First, briefly who is Kumi William Du Bois? What are you about?
I am a young man in my 20’s who loves words and art in a bigger perspective. From Kindergarten, I have been known as a poetry lover. I decided to start writing in my Junior High school days due to a poem I read; the poem was that of David Diop “The Vultures”. The poem really fought its way into my heart and made me start writing. I am now pursuing a Degree in communication at the Ghana Institute of Journalism. Day dreaming is one thing I cannot live without for a moment. It keeps me going and writing.

Tell us about your book and your literary style of writing. How effective do you think infusing the local language, TWI, into your poem will be to a foreigner who does not know the language?
Beautiful Africa is an anthology I published at the age of 19 with other featured poets from Ghana and the United States of America. The book is not just an anthology but an anthology with 100 literary devices. There are 20 poems in the book which 12 of those poems are mine and the remaining 8 poems are those of the featured poets. The book is available online only.
My writing style is very unique due to the way and topics I usually write about.
Poetry is the native language of the heart you don’t need an interpreter for your heart to understand the poem. Twi in Ghana is one of the most used local languages even when foreigners come to explore Ghana, they fall for the language and since I was born in this language I am very fluent in it. Infusing twi in my writing helps me to create a connection between my reader who less understand English I always have a glossary column where I explain all the local dialect  I used in the poem so this serves as a guide to the foreigner who does not understand the langue. Also doing this makes the poem more indigenous.