African Symphony

Noted for his gritty explorations of the universal through the prism of the local, and a lucid voice at once realistic and searingly sensual, Raymond Boghos Kupelian remains at the vanguard of contemporary literature.
In the Sierra Leone and Liberia of the 1960s and 70s, where he lived and worked, the author witnessed the great expectations and crushing disillusionment following the pathos of statehood. 
Immersing himself in the everyday life of natives and immigrants, men and women of all walks of life, he became witness to the struggles and primal energies — manifested through ancient customs, superstitions, and circumstances of profoundly moving humanness — which dominated as much the virgin forests as the fast-sprawling urban jungles of an Africa in great flux.

African Symphony is a powerful chronicle of a society’s quest for self-actualization as well as a lush odyssey of self-discovery.
Kupelian is the author of five novels and five short-story collections, many of which are included in the present anthology.