Dialogue Books is publishing The Sex Lives of African Women by feminist writer and blogger Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah.
Dialogue Books is publishing The Sex Lives of African Women by feminist writer and blogger Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah.
The deal was struck by the publisher of Dialogue Books, Sharmaine Lovegrove, who bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) in the book to be published in April 2021 from Robert Caskie of Caskie Mushens.
In The Sex Lives of African Women, individual women from across the African continent and its global diaspora speak to their diverse experiences of sex, sexualities and relationships, according to Dialogue Books, as well as revealing common threads.
“Positive experiences emerge of living life on one’s own terms, from finding queer community in Egypt to living a polyamorous life in Senegal,” reads the book’s synopsis. “Many of the women who tell their stories in this collection speak to the journeys they have travelled in order to own their own sexualities. They do this by grappling with experiences of child sexual abuse, resisting the religious edicts of their childhood, and by asserting their sexual power, whether that be by working as a dominatrix or choosing to leave relationships that no longer serve them. Women do all this in a quest to live free.”
The book’s author, Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, spent six years speaking to women from all over the world for her research, including in Ghana and the UK, where she is best connected, as well as from countries including Sao Tome, Senegal, Italy, Brazil and the US.
“These stories have provided me with deep insights into women’s quest for freedom and the complex journeys that so many of us take to arrive at that ultimate destination,” said Sekyiamah. “I hope that the people who eventually get to read this book get to understand the complex tapestry of African women’s sexuality and find many inspirational models to live a truly liberated life.”
She added: “I am especially delighted to be represented by Robert Caskie who got the vision of this book from the very start and found the perfect home for it with Dialogue Books. It’s such a pleasure to be working with Sharmaine Lovegrove to bring a book into the world that I truly hope will inspire conversation about the complex lived experiences of African and black women.”
Lovegrove said: “Often black women, despite being sexualised from a young age, are invisible from narratives around sex, desire and choice. This book under the skilled and thoughtful pen of Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah illuminates and amplifies the voices of myriad black women on all elements of sexuality and the result is an incredible, revealing book that is complex, nuanced and freeing. I am so proud to publish this vital book and give space to further break taboos with Nana.”
Caskie said: “It’s always very exciting to come across a writer who has a distinctive and unique voice, especially when they use to explore a complex and fascinating topic. This is Nana. And of course, the perfect match for her is the equally unique and distinctive Sharmaine at Dialogue. What a joy for me to be able to work with both women at the same time on a book that will rightly demand everyone’s attention.”
