Tracing JaJa

Based on the life of accomplished merchant prince King Ja Ja of Opobo, Anthony Kellman has created a rich and warm work of historical fiction. Posited as the main obstacle to British imperial interests in the palm oil-rich Niger delta, once omnipotent King Ja Ja is exiled to the West Indies for the final four years of his life. Weaving between the official records and the satirical and cynical traditions of the "Tuk" song, Tracing Ja Ja traces the emerging love between an ailing African king in exile and his Barbadian servant Becka."King Ja Ja won' leh Becka alone King Ja Ja won' leh Becka alone Wha' Becka got, um is all she own."When Jubo Jubogba began life as a trader's slave, paddling the great house's canoes, no one could've predicted his meteoric ascent to become Ja Ja of Opobo, a sage merchant king of the Niger's rich river delta. Exiled at the age of seventy, first to St Vincent and then to Barbados, King Ja Ja is officially the guest of the British colonial government but is, in reality, its prisoner.Falling for his (much younger) servant Becka, the novel reaches beneath the cynical reading of their relationship voiced by the island's Tuk tradition to explore their genuine bond. Casting a critical eye on a shameful episode in imperial history, the story explores Ja Ja's life in the White-dominated Barbadian culture and his nascent love for Becka against his longing for home, as the Barbadian landscape slowly lifts his despair and entices him into a new sense of belonging. Kellman's psychological insight crosses ages and cultures, with a poet's perception of the beauties of his island's flora and fauna.

About the Author :
Anthony Kellman was born in Barbados in 1955, educated at Combermere School, at UWI (Cave Hill) and in the U.S. At eighteen he left for Britain where he worked as a troubadour playing pop and West Indian folk music on the pub and folk club circuit.He recalls that this was 'glamorous and a great deal of fun', but when the 'harsh realities' of living as a full-time musician set in, he enrolled in a journalism training programme. During the 1980s he returned to Barbados where he worked as a newspaper reporter, then worked part-time to pay his way through UWI (Cave Hill) where he did a BA in English and History. Afterwards he worked in PR for the Central Bank of Barbados, experiences which he drew on in writing The Coral Rooms. As part of this job he was involved in organising art exhibitions and readings. At this time he published two poetry chapbooks, In Depths of Burning Lights (1982) and The Broken Sun (1984), which drew praise from Kamau Brathwaite, among others.In 1987 he left Barbados for the USA where he studied for a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing at Lousiana State University. After completing in 1989 he moved to Augusta State University, Georgia, where he is a professor of English and creative writing. He finds considerable resonances between the Caribbean and the Southern states in the USA, which feed into his poetry, where blue jays, dogwoods and wisteria rub shoulders with angel fish, sugarcane and coral reefs.In 1990 Peepal Tree published his third book of poetry, Watercourse, (which appeared with a glowing endorsement from Edouard Glissant), the novel, The Coral Rooms (1994), The Long Gap (1996) and Wings of a Stranger (2000). A second novel, The Houses of Alphonso is due in 2004. All his work has a powerful involvement with landscape, both as a living entity shaping peoples' lives and as a source of metaphor for inner processes. The limestone caves of Barbados have provided a particularly fertile source of inspiration. He is currently working on a long narrative poem written in the rhythms of tuk, the indigenous musical form of Barbados. In 1992 he edited the first full-length U.S. anthology of English-speaking Caribbean poetry, Crossing Water. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, his poetry, fiction and critical essays have appeared in journals all over the world.An account of his own writing processes can be found in 'The Revisionary Interior Image: A Caribbean Author Explores his Work', in Studies in the Literary Imagination, Georgia State University, Vol XXVI, No. 2, 1993.