The FBI, magic, Highlife music, sensual elements and Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah all in one book? Of course, we’d have to be engrossed.
Congratulations to Ghana’s visionary and artistic Jack-of-many-trades Samuel ‘Blitz the Ambassador’ Bazawule who just released his debut novel The Scent of Burnt Flowers.
Blitz is definitely on the up and up in his endeavours. After his much-acclaimed film The Burial of Kojo, he’s directed Beyonce’s Black is King album and is now leading the remake of the Oprah Winfrey-produced The Colour Purple slated for release in 2023.
And now the director, producer and Rapper is an author. Blitz Bazawule was on Trevor Noah’s ‘The Daily Show’ to promote his book The Scent of Burnt Flowers. He expressed how his new book came about during the height of the Covid-19 lockdown.
Blitz The Ambassador also revealed that his debut novel will also be turned into a series.
In a bidding war that included a number of streamers and networks, FX has closed a deal for the development of the six-episode limited series based on The Scent of Burnt Flowers he will write, direct and produce, Bliz The Ambassador said.
He added that Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is expected to play a lead role in the film.
What is The Scent of Burnt Flowers about?
Set in 1966, The Scent of Burnt Flowers recounts the tale of an American couple, Melvin and Bernadette, fleeing their home after the murder of a racist white man in an Alabama restaurant. With a persistent F.B.I. agent on their trail, they travel to Ghana to seek the help of Melvin’s old college friend, who happens to be the country’s embattled President, Kwame Nkrumah.
The couple’s chance encounter with Ghana’s most beloved Highlife musician, Kwesi Kwayson, who’s on his way to perform for the President, sparks a journey full of suspense, lust, magic, and danger as Nkrumah’s regime crumbles around them.
What was meant to be a fresh start quickly spirals into chaos.
The Scent of Burnt Flowers merges political intrigue, magical encounters, and forbidden romance in an epic collision of love, morality, and power.
You can order The Scent of Burnt Flowers here.
