Praise for Bo Aku, Undisputed King of the Forest
"Emanuel Ngwainmbi brilliantly explores the funny, thrilling, and shocking encounters between young African boys and girls with the gorilla, Bo Aku. Bo Aku is a beautifully crafted story that is sure to hold the reader's attention. Ngwainmbi's place is on the same road as Achebe, Armah, Ngugi, and Aidoo!"
-Prof. Molefi Kete Asante, Leading figure in African-American Studies, African Studies and Communication Studies and author of over 70 books and 200 articles
Ngwainmbi’s love for children’s literature is ....inspired. The stories were edited and incorporated into a story geared toward young western readers.
-Matthews Mint Hill Weekly Newspaper
The stories flow well and provide ample opportunity for classroom teachers to develop critical questions related to the plots, characters, and cultural issues, as well as the major themes in each story. The book can easily be used as a springboard into further classroom discussions and investigations. Classroom teachers can build a thematic unit from each story or the entire collection
-Elizabeth Reynolds, Ph.D. Secondary education, administration and professional development
"The setting is very engaging and the characters are very vivid….The story framework is complicated and better for suited for middle school
- C. Higgins, Media Expert, Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools
Bo Aku” is a collection of short stories taken from the storytelling tradition of the Bantu culture of West Africa. They are stories that have stood the test of time on one continent”
Daily Advance
Reviews of Leap in the Dark
“Rather than getting wrapped up in revenge or an eye for an eye, Ngwainmbi demonstrates how conversation can cure the deepest misconceptions”
The Charlotte Post
Dr. Ngwainmbi’s writings are “Powerful”, "bring a breath of fresh air”, "intriguing", "mystical", “good riveting imagery".
-Tijan Sallah, Manager, Poet, Author, Capacity Development and Partnerships Unit of the Africa Region, World Bank
Dr. Ngwainmbi's wide travels and extensive experience make him uniquely qualified tp keynote the Sixth African American Caribbean Cultural Arts Conference
AACCAC
Ngwainmbi's place is on the same road as Achebe, Armah, Ngugi, and Aidoo!"
Prof. Molefi Kete Asante, Leading figure in African-American Studies, African Studies and Communication Studies and author of over 70 books and 200 articles
Not only is the author keeping the stories of his culture alive, he is adding to the canon of international literature that reminds us that we are
Robert Kelly, Citizen Journalist
Poetry Reviews
Emmanuel Ngwainmbi (pseud. Emmanuel Kane) has spent most of his life in the United States. He is the author of 20 books including Sim’s Poetic Column (ELTA, 1978); A Bush of Voices (Brunswick Publishing, 1989), Whispers on My Pillow (Book surge, 2003), Theaters of War (Plain View Press, 2006) and Growing Flames, Fury and Lavender (PRA Publishing, 2017).
Other poems appear in Sankofa, Chapel Hill Press, Janus; La Colombe, The Mould; Yaoundé University Press; The Brave-War Veterans Anthology; Washington Review; Electric Acorn, Dublin, Ireland; Lynne Reiner Publishers; Symphony of Verse; New Poets of West Africa; Malthouse Press; New Horizons by Yaoundé University Press, Howard University Magazine, SensationsMagazine, allpoetry.com, http://www.cervenabarvapress.com/ngwainmbiinterview.html and more.
Ethelbert Miller, Blyden Jackson, Lianne Larocque, Gwendolyn Brooks, Molefi Kete Asante, and Jonathan Rice of Iodine Press are among distinguished poets and authors who admire his work. Kane won the Kom-USA award for poetry. He is Editor-in-Chief of 12 peer-reviewed journals, serves on the editorial boards of eight journals and a member of the Poets and Writers, Inc., Charlotte Writers Club, and others. He has also taught in some universities in the US and abroad.
His writings have already caught the attention of readers and newspaper editors. Also, columnists and press reports at the Matthews Weekly, Virginia Pilot, Daily Advance, Charlotte Observer, Publishers Weekly, Lenka’s List, and Goodreads, and others have already agreed to review the novels.
Book Reviews
The contributors discuss, with data backing, why proper management of information in the era of big data and social media is essential in promoting economic development and citizen health and in advancing social cohesion and democracy while rooting out corruption in poor and marginalized communities across the world. This book is recommended reading for media managers, social accountability, and health advocacy professionals. The biggest beneficiaries, in my view, are the students of media studies, health promotion and advocacy, and political science.”
- Levi Zeleza Manda, Editor of Journal of Development and Communication Studies)
“This collection of essays attempts to unravel our complex postmodern existence by using the constitutive discipline of communication scholarship to explicate the troubled nexus between the important concepts of citizenship, democracy and the media in a developmental setting.”
- Muiru Ngugi, Senior Lecturer, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Nairobi, Kenya)
“…democracy has been accepted as the ideal mode of governance, even in far-flung societies. The issue now goes beyond how democracy has fared; it is how to make democracy work. What model is best in various societies? This question requires a dispassionate review of the status quo, and this volume offers just that. It is a collection of case studies from across the continents—a much-needed documentation of experiences as East meets West, and tribal societies are embraced for what they are. The book is a bold engagement with the present, an unpretentious review of the precolonial antecedents, and a brave contemplation of the future. Readers should be provoked to rethink concepts of citizenship, participation, locations, and custodians of power within media and society.”
- (Oluyinka Esan, School of Media and Film, University of Winchester, UK)