Queer Reads: Kwei Quartey examines Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ legislation in his new mystery
Queer Ghanaian-American author Kwei Quartey delivers his most personal novel in The Whitewashed Tombs, a new mystery that reflects the dark reality of an anti-gay bill threatening Ghana’s LGBTQ population.
Reflecting current events in Ghana, where anti-gay legislation would criminalize LGBTQ+ identities, The Whitewashed Tombs expresses Quartey’s disappointment and pain as a queer man witnessing his native country turn its back on the culture of warmth and kindness in favor of policies engendering hate and violating basic human rights.
While grief underlies the political climate and mystery in The Whitewashed Tombs, the author also asserts the book as a rebellion against the hostility at work and a call for inclusivity with a belief in the power of love and humanity.
In his mystery series featuring the intrepid private investigator Emma Djan, a young LGBTQ activist is butchered one night after being lured on Grindr to a deserted building site.
