Episode 251: Weaving Ourselves into Stories with Ivana Akotowaa Ofori

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week is the finale of our writing as activism series at the 2024 Pa Gya! Literary Festival. It has been such a pleasure bringing the works and words of these writers to a wider audience. It has been a wonderful multi-generational compilation of wisdom across genres. Joining us this week is Ivana Akotowaa Ofori, a Ghanaian storyteller known also by the alias, “The Spider Kid.” She is a weaver of words in many forms, including fiction, non-fiction and spoken-word poetry. Akotowaa has been nominated for various awards for her prose writing. Her work is included in the Flash Fiction Ghana anthology, Kenkey for Ewes and Other Very Short Stories, and the Writivism anthology, And Morning Will Come. She is also included in the Africa Risen Anthology 2022 with her short story, “Exiles of Witchery”. Akotowaa’s debut novella, The Year of Return (2023) has been published in the US with Android Press and in West Africa with Smartline Publishers. Writing aside, Akotowaa spends much of her time looking for excuses to make everything purple and this imaginative, playful spirit definitely shines through our conversation. Where to find Akotowaa? On the Ceiling On Akotowaa’s Blog On LinkedIn On Instagram On X On Facebook What’s Akotowaa watching? Dr. Who Sherlock What’s Akotowaa reading? The Color Purple by Alica Walker How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair Saltwater Slavery by Stephanie E. Smallwood Manchester Happened by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie Other topics of interest: Black Girls Glow and the KOSHKA Sound Residency Burma Camp, Accra About Roald Dahl Ananasesem About Kente ClothSpecial Guest: Ivana Akotowaa Ofori.