Notes - Selase Kove-Seyram

August 19, 2015My Essay in ZAM Magazine

Today, I woke up to this tweet: “Ghanaian reporter who can’t swim joins chase for a pirate ship”. Why would such a person join this kind of chase? That’s the valid question I never asked, because I was not only mentioned in that tweet; I was that reporter. The essay is the one I promised

Selase Kove-Seyram for The New York Times

July 28, 2015The Outlaw Ocean Series

I’ve been off here for a while and I really miss blogging. But I’m excited to share all that I’ve been up to lately. There’s the big one about my work as a co-author on a book with one of my professional and personal heroes, which I’ll share later. For now, I’m equally stoked to

October 3, 2013Beyond [in photos]

I met Nii Obodai today. Wait, you don’t know who he is? Check him out here. We met at an exhibition showcasing works of his and other artists in Ghana. What I took away from the event was inspiration – from a group of storytellers working in dialogue with their communities and culture to reveal

December 31, 2012Looking Back on 2012: Somewhere between Sleeping and Waking

— 1 — In many ways, January 4, 2012 feels like the first in my frame of memories for this year. A backpacked, trolley-pulling me had just arrived in New Delhi, India around 11pm. Looking nothing near certain, I make my way to the arrival lounge of the Indira Gandhi International Airport. A delayed flight

April 29, 2012A Poem: To The Last Parent

I heard a song From a grandmother to her daughter It was the very song you sung But never got to end After all these years It sounds new and cuts deep They will never understand That never would cross a world To hear the last sounds to a tune Many can play your place But

April 14, 2012A Lyrical Guide into Mum’s Life

Today, I sat in my room in New Delhi, studying for an examination, when it all occurred. In the wonderful workings of the mind, the sweetness of an unheard tune came to me. It led me to Youtube, where I heard it one more time – after so many years: Jamaica Farewell, performed by Harry Belafonte. In

February 14, 2012Peeling India

It was not the answer I was expecting to my question. It was the answer to a question I was yet to formulate; to a future question — one still unborn. It gave me a tinge of surprise and utter delight. “I love Bharat; not India”, he said with a strut of confidence. I met

May 18, 2011Of Semantics and Life

As the days go by and the years roll on, life gets interesting. Life gets us to shed some long held beliefs and offer us lessons that can only be learnt in the sands of time. Therein lays the joy of living: it is only by living life that we are able to learn whatever

March 30, 2011Winds of Change in the Middle East: How far, how long?

At the very core of democracy lies the element of mutual trust and respect between the governed and the government. Democracy’s very essence is aptly captured in the simple definition of “a government of the people, by the people and for the people” as expressed by Abraham Lincoln in his popular Gettysburg address at the

March 29, 2011The Quilt Imperative: Dimensions of the Post-modernist self

One of the distinguishing marks of postmodern identity is its fluidity and high fragmentation. This idea of the self has evolved from the pre-modern and modern identities. The pre-modern identity is by far the most unified and stable kind of identity. Here, there is little conflict about a person’s identity, since it comes as a