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Meshack Asare is a prolific and multi-prize-winning children's author and illustrator, whose books have appeared in many languages and are celebrated throughout the world. Born in 1945 in Ghana, he studied Fine Arts at the College of Art in Kumasi.

He taught for 12 years in Ghana, during which period he took an extension course in Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. While teaching, he started writing and illustrating professionally, and his first book, Ghana Welcomes You, was published in 1968. Some of his credits include Sosu's Call, Kwajo and the Brassman's Secret, and Noma's Sand.

Meshack Asare has served as a resource person at several UNESCO workshops; and in 2004, he was the lead resource person at a workshop in Windhoek for young illustrators from Anglophone Africa, under the auspices of the UNESCO Office in Namibia.

He has been nominated for the Astrid Lingren Memorial Award twice: in 2005 and 2006.

Writing always comes first to me, as my stories usually begin with an idea. I also believe that writing is much easier than illustrating, so I start with the easier part.

The Cross Drums, your most recent book, has been selected by the International Youth Library for the 2009 White Ravens catalog, in the "International Understanding" category. Can you please tell us a little bit about the book and what inspired you to write it?

The Cross Drums actually grew from a 15 min.
radio story for a BBC School Radio Programme 
called 'Together'. The story was inspired by the idea of "friendship," somewhat as a counterpoint to news of "territorial" disturbances between rival villages in northern Ghana, in which many lives, including children's, were lost.

Sosu's Call, about a disabled boy who struggles to win the respect of people from his village, was the winner of the 1999 UNESCO Prize for Children’s Literature in the Service of Tolerance (an award that, sadly, has been discontinued). The book has also received numerous other honors, such as its selection by IBBY as one of the "Outstanding Books For Young People With Disabilities." Can you tell us what these accolades, in particular the UNESCO award and the IBBY recognition have meant to you, in your career?

These honours have helped my work gain wider recognition and, just as important, they have helped generate credibility and respect for publishing in Africa, especially in the sector of literature for children and young people.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am watching birds, where I live, and trying to get a story out.

Posted June 2009

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