Kan, Golakai for crime fiction discourse

Authors Toni Kan and Hawa Golakai (a Liberian) will be in conversation on the theme ‘missing bodies in crime fiction’ as part of activities marking the 2016 edition of the annual Lagos Book and Arts Festival (LABAF). Kan (known for his collection of short stories, ‘Nights of the Creaking Bed’) will be reading from his […]

Authors Toni Kan and Hawa Golakai (a Liberian) will be in conversation on the theme ‘missing bodies in crime fiction’ as part of activities marking the 2016 edition of the annual Lagos Book and Arts Festival (LABAF).

Kan (known for his collection of short stories, ‘Nights of the Creaking Bed’) will be reading from his long-awaited novel ‘The Carnivorous City’ today, November 12 at Freedom Park, Lagos. Described as a ‘gripping and intriguing’ tale, it is a story of Rabato Sabato, aka Soni Dike a ‘Lagos big boy’ with a beautiful wife, a sea-side mansion and a questionable fortune. Then one day he disappears and his car is found in a ditch, music blaring from the speakers. 

Soni’s older brother, Abel Dike, a teacher, arrives in Lagos to look for his missing brother. Abel is rapidly sucked into the unforgiving Lagos maelstrom where he has to navigate encounters with a motley cast of common criminals, deal with policemen all intent on getting a piece of the pie, and contend with his growing attraction to his brother’s wife.”

Golakai’s debut novel, ‘The Lazarus Effect’ is set in Cape Town and focuses on Voinjama Johnson an investigative journalist working for the Cape Town magazine, Urban. Her life is a mess and she’s been seeing things: a teenage girl in a red hat that goes hand-in-hand with the debilitating episodes she is loath to call ‘panic attacks’.

When Vee spots a photo of the girl from her hallucinations at a local hospital, she launches an investigation, under the pretext of writing an article about missing children. With the help of her oddball assistant Chloe Bishop, she’s soon delving into the secrets of the fractured Fourie and Paulsen families. What happened to Jacqui Paulsen, who left home two years ago and hasn’t been seen since?

The two authors are both published by Cassava Republic Press.