In the latest episode of Pagecast, Kobby Ben Ben talks to Lethabo Mailula about his powerful novel No One Dies Yet

This week on Pagecast, the podcast brought to you by Jonathan Ball Publishers, the phenomenal Kobby Ben Ben chats about his novel No One Dies Yet.

Pagecast offers you insider interviews with recently published authors, looking into the process of writing, exploring the narratives within and providing you with the story behind the story.

In this episode, Ben Ben is in conversation with Lethabo Mailula, an academic at law, society and politics commentator and cultural production critic.

Ben Ben was born in Ghana, where he is a prominent book reviewer and runs the African Book Club and the Ghana Must Read website. His eccentric Instagram book blog, @bookworm_man, has caught the attention of Booker Prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo, and of Maaza Mengiste and Petina Gappah, among others. No One Dies Yet is his first novel.

About the book

No One Dies Yet is a genre-breaking novel from a powerful new African voice.

2019. The Year of the Return. It has been exactly 400 years since the first slave ships left Ghana for America. Ghana has now opened its doors to Black diasporans, encouraging them to return and get to know the land of their ancestors.

Elton, Vincent, and Scott arrive from America to visit preserved sites from the transatlantic slave route, and to explore the country’s underground queer scene. Their activities are narrated by their two combative guides: Kobby, their guide to Accra’s privileged circles; and Nana, the voice of tradition and religious principle. The pair’s tense relationship sets the tone for what becomes a shocking and unsettling tale of murder that is at times funny, at times erotic, yet always outspoken and iconoclastic.

Enjoy the episode!