While a challenge to create, the new novel isn’t entirely new territory for Akala. The Dark Lady is a combination of everything we’ve come to celebrate the writer for: an almost encyclopaedic grasp of history, his profound storytelling ability, and, with The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company, setting the Bard’s works to a modern beat. “I just think that he’s [Shakespeare] written some of the best characters ever made,” Akala tells me. The Nottinghill Carnival takes central stage in this story about families, memories and the power of dance and festivals. Author Yaba Badoe tells... I would have liked to understand the curse clearer, but loved the bit about Shakespeare - he did not disappoint. All too often these famous historical figures in real life, behave in ways that can only be disappointing. Like finding out a famous person you admire is a racist. You feel so very disappointed in them and in yourself for seeing something in them good, that clearly wasn't there. Shakespeare in his teeny role, behaved well. Which I appreciated and was a relief despite it being fiction. Lol. He has chosen to use slang from Tudor times, but as the rest of his prose bears little or no resemblance to how people spoke at that time, the inserted slang just feels jarring and confusing. Seeing as the prose is also interspersed with obviously modern phrases and idioms, the result is a linguistic mess that puts you in doubt whether English is in fact Akala's native language. In fact, the prose bears a similarity to that frequently written by confused Americans attempting to sound English. Given that Akala actually is British, I find this rather impressive. It was inevitable that poet, activist and author Akala would eventually turn his sights to writing for young adults, given his passion for education and turning young people away from a life of crime. This is the guy who once said, “It is so bloody expensive to put kids in prison, it is cheaper to send them to Eton!” It would appear he is doing what he can toward this premise by writing his young adults’ novel, which is entitled after Shakespeare’s Dark Lady sonnets.

David Olusoga. "Natives by Akala review – the hip-hop artist on race and class in the ruins of empire | Books". The Guardian . Retrieved 21 May 2020. Fifteen-year-old Henry lives in poverty in the care of a pair of apothecary sisters. A skilled thief and writer of sonnets, he has an additional extraordinary gift — he “can close his eyes and read languages”. Letters become “colours, shapes, sounds and musical notes. Always a different pattern emerged and it was endlessly beautiful”. And, with brown skin inherited from his absent Beninese mother, Henry is subject to racism, with England’s insularity and prejudice pertinently portrayed — the rhetoric of foreigners “stealing jobs” is all too familiar. A brutally slow, meandering tale with little discernible plot, awkward prose, and thoroughly unlikable characters, "The Dark Lady" was an absolute chore to read. Akala’s book centres around a 15-year-old orphan boy named Henry who is haunted by the dreams of a mysterious dark lady. It is a young man’s coming of age journey and gives us a character who is a very smart and complicated character.

The book reads like an incredibly long intro and spends inordinate amounts of time on pointless exposition, long-winded and repetitive descriptions of London and life in Tudor times (which I ought to have found interesting, given how much the subject generally fascinates me), and scenarios that contribute little or nothing to story or character development.

Akala weaves in historical figures including William Shakespeare himself, who is Henry’s idol. Henry writes poetry, even scrawling verse on the walls during his stint as a prisoner in a dungeon. All Henry’s sonnets are inscribed within the novel, often in the standard font and inset in italics as well. Akala receives honorary doctorate | The Voice Online". Archive.voice-online.co.uk. 24 June 2018 . Retrieved 21 May 2020. But before that he met Lucia and she offered to sell the golden bird and meet him before 12 so she could come to Venice with him. As a warning I want to make it clear I review this with my professional hat on not personal. Personally, I thought this was pretty good but I review this in a professional capacity and as such must keep that in mind): I think there is definitely people out there who will absolutely love this book, I am just sad that I am not one of them

Format

This book may be for children on the cover (which is just stunning!) but this is definitely not just for teenagers - I can't wait to learn more about the world of The Dark Lady with Henry. Writing his latest novel, The Dark Lady, he says was “extremely difficult” but “incredibly satisfying”. “I did geek out,” he laughs. “I’ve tried to condense the entire 1590s into one summer.”

For a street kid from the Devil's Gap, London's most notorious slum, life is short and tough. For Henry, a boy thief with brown skin, inherited from a mother who abandoned him, life is tougher still. The Dark Lady enters his dreams at night. She seems to represent a past, and possibly a future... A natural storyteller with a vision of his own, THE DARK LADY, Akala's debut novel for teens will enthuse and entertain teenagers and young adults, showing that reading is a true super-power. Macpherson, Alex (27 September 2007). "CD: Akala, Freedom Lasso". The Guardian . Retrieved 17 April 2020.Community organising is core to Daley’s Akala characters identity and his attention is turned to raising a new generation of free-thinkers, activists and creatives. He has a children's book out, that introduces school kids to hip-hop, titled Hip and Hop: You Can Do Anything.

Hachette says Akala grew up in London. He is a BAFTA / MOBO award-winning hip hop artist, writer and social entrepreneur. In 2009, he co-founded The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company, a music theatre production company that explores the social, cultural and linguistic parallels between William Shakespeare’s works and that of modern day rappers.

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When an opportunity arises Henry is asked to take over the shop from graham which is making needles, but to Graham’s surprise will he take the opportunity?