Houston, Texas – November 18, 2022 – Press Release: Saint Julian Press is proud to announce a new book of proverbs and stories.
THE REASON WHY CROWS IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES HAVE WHITE COLOR by Rev. Sister Rosina A. Ampah, was released on November 18, 2022.
In this new collection of Ghanaian stories and proverbs, we are given a rare look at how a people’s oral traditions and folklore embody the ethos and pathos of their culture. Through her storytelling, Sister Rosina embraces a way of bearing witness and revealing the greatest truths of living to others. In her native country of Ghana, West Africa, stories are used to teach morals, ethics, spirituality, hospitality, and character and to help shape a more profound spiritual way of seeing and being. These stories are passed on by rote from one generation to the next. Sister Rosina—the first woman in her family to assume the mantle of an ancestral storyteller—is the keeper of a treasure trove of proverbs. Stories she learned by memory from her immediate family, her parents, grandparents, and beyond. Their lessons shaped her spiritual development and choice of vocation, leading to a religious calling within The Episcopal Church and greater Anglican Communion as a nun and priest serving others in a ministry of Christ.
THE REASON WHY CROWS IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES HAVE WHITE COLOR by Rev. Sister Rosina A. Ampah, was released on November 18, 2022.
In this new collection of Ghanaian stories and proverbs, we are given a rare look at how a people’s oral traditions and folklore embody the ethos and pathos of their culture. Through her storytelling, Sister Rosina embraces a way of bearing witness and revealing the greatest truths of living to others. In her native country of Ghana, West Africa, stories are used to teach morals, ethics, spirituality, hospitality, and character and to help shape a more profound spiritual way of seeing and being. These stories are passed on by rote from one generation to the next. Sister Rosina—the first woman in her family to assume the mantle of an ancestral storyteller—is the keeper of a treasure trove of proverbs. Stories she learned by memory from her immediate family, her parents, grandparents, and beyond. Their lessons shaped her spiritual development and choice of vocation, leading to a religious calling within The Episcopal Church and greater Anglican Communion as a nun and priest serving others in a ministry of Christ.
—Ron Starbuck
Saint Julian Press, Inc.
Publisher/Executive Editor
Saint Julian Press, Inc.
Publisher/Executive Editor
Praise for — THE REASON WHY CROWS IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES HAVE WHITE COLOR
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Thanks to Sister Rosina, this marvelous collection of traditional Ghanaian stories and proverbs will intrigue you, make you smile, and prod you to think more deeply about your own life. Here is a deep well from which God's timeless wisdom can be drawn for us in our time.
—The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry
Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and Author of Love is the Way and Songs My Grandma Sang For almost 20 years, I have been finding opportunities for Rosina Ampah to tell her stories to children and adults in a wide variety of school, church, and community settings, first in Florida and later in Washington State. These events have produced a universally enthusiastic response from hosts and guests alike. The leaders with whom I coordinate her visits usually beg me to alert them whenever she is due back to their area. I have met people, especially children, who remember her stories – in detail – a year afterward. That’s humbling for me, a preacher whose words are often forgotten within minutes of the time I speak to them. There is great power in the oral tradition that Rosina articulates so effectively!
—The Rev. David Mesenbring
Episcopal Priest |
One may ask why the use of proverbs is so widespread in Africa. In this book, Rosina Ampah shows an indigenous people’s ability to speak in symbolic language drawing from the everydayness of life. This book defies the fallacy that Africa can only be approached as a repository of rawness devoid of any conceptualization. Rosina Ampah unearths reasoning as an African art of interrogating matter in simple but crafty conveyance. Thoughtful readers will enjoy this tapestry of stories more if they open themselves up to the “reason” of things beyond their first appearances and forms.
—S. N. Nyeck, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Africana Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder.
Curious readers and lovers of folklore will delight in this unique collection of Ghanaian stories populated with talking crows, scheming spiders, and magical monkeys that open an enchanted doorway into the rich cultural realm of Ghana and its people. The wise and witty proverbs accompanying each story are best appreciated when read aloud to hear the intimate voice of Rosina Ampah. She is a gifted storyteller with a head filled with wisdom and a heart full of love for her people and native country.
—Samme Chittum, Ph.D.
This book defines an amazing, hard-working, and lovely grandmother. Her interest in future generations and the need to preserve traditions compel her to chronicle the proverbs and traditional stories she heard as a child and retold time and again since then. These tales are captivating, the characters appealing, and written vividly. They recall sitting around the feet of one’s grandmother, listening to stories and proverbs. This is a must-have for all.
—Dr. (Mrs.) Vivian Etsiapa Boamah
As a rural healthcare chaplain serving an institution in Western Pennsylvania, I have never resided more than 25 miles from where I now live. I have never been to Africa. Yet Rosina Ampah's telling of proverbs of Ghana, in her much anticipated second volume, resonates with me as she captures in stories of animals, fowl, and insects the essence of human nature. As I tell my patients, human nature is human nature. Rosina's stories provide lessons about who we are, what we do, and the consequences of what we do, whether we live in Ghana or anywhere in the world. Because of its universal application, it is a book for everyone.
—Monica Maghrak
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The Rev. Sister Rosina A. Ampah is a marvelous Storyteller who has taught spiritual lessons and wisdom her entire life. As a young child, she first received a call to religious life at a church altar in Ghana, West Africa. Where she was told in a time before women could be ordained that God wanted her to know that one day she would become an Anglican priest. Years later, she joined the Order of Saint Helena, becoming a Sister of the Order and an Episcopal priest. In this ministry, her storytelling has touched the spiritual lives of the young and old in profound ways.
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Publication Date: November 18, 2022
Paperback: $22.00 Publisher : Saint Julian Press, Inc. (November 18, 2022) ISBN: 978-1-955194-10-5 eBook ISBN: 9781955194112 Price: $9.99 |
PRESS RELEASE PDF
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ONLINE RETAILERS
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BARNES & NOBLE
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AMAZON
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Available Through ~ Ingram Content Group ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ IndieBound ~ Fine Book Distributors & Retailers
Saint Julian Press, Inc. * Houston, TX 77008 * Ron Starbuck ~ Publisher-CEO
Email: ronstarbuck@saintjulianpress.com * Web: www.saintjulianpress.com
Saint Julian Press, Inc. * Houston, TX 77008 * Ron Starbuck ~ Publisher-CEO
Email: ronstarbuck@saintjulianpress.com * Web: www.saintjulianpress.com
SAINT JULIAN PRESS, INC. © 2022
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As an Amazon Associate — Saint Julian Press, Inc. may earn funds from any qualifying purchases.
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As an Amazon Associate — Saint Julian Press, Inc. may earn funds from any qualifying purchases.
This arrangement does help to sustain the press and allow us to publish more books by more authors.