Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah | |
---|---|
Born | London, England |
Nationality | Ghanaian |
Occupation(s) | Writer, blogger, communications specialist |
Known for | Writing on women's rights and sexuality |
Notable work | The Sex Lives of African Women |
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah is a Ghanaian feminist writer and blogger. She co-founded award-winning blog Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women and has written for The Guardian and Open Democracy. Sekyiamah is the Director for Communications manager at the Association for Women's Rights in Development and a member of the Black Feminism Forum Working Group which organised the historic first Black Feminist Forum in Bahia, Brazil.
Life
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah was born in London, England, to Ghanaian parents, and grew up in Ghana.[1] She has a diploma in performance coaching and a certificate in conflict mediation and has worked as a life coach and a public speaker.[2] She was also awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in communications and cultural studies by the University of North London and a Master of Science degree in gender and development from the London School of Economics and Political Science.[2] She has also worked as a leadership trainer for London's Metropolitan Police.[2]
Sekyiamah co-founded the blog, Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women, to help widen discussion of sex and sexuality by African women and provide a forum for them to talk openly.[3][4] She won the best overall blog and best activist blog prizes at the 2013 Ghana Blogging and Social Media Awards and best overall blog again in 2014.[3] In March 2011, Sekyiamah was recognised by Arise magazine as one of "Ghana's Change Makers".[2] Sekyiamah is the convener for Fab Fem, a feminist group that meets regularly in Accra.[2]
Sekyiamah has written articles for The Guardian, This Is Africa and Open Democracy.[4][5][6] She wrote the Communications Handbook for Women’s Rights Organisations and has had short stories published in anthologies in many countries.[7] Sekyiamah has written widely on the sexuality of African women and has also had an article ("Standpoint: Adventures from Our Bedrooms – Blogging about diverse erotic experiences") published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Feminist Africa.[4][8]
Sekyiamah works as the Director of Communications at the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID).[6] She is a member of the Black Feminism Forum Working Group.[9] She co-authored Creating Spaces and Amplifying Voices: The First Ten Years of the African Women's Development Fund on the early history of the fund.[7] She also wrote Women Leading Africa: Conversations with Inspirational African Women, a collection of interviews with women from across Africa on topics including feminism, politics and the arts that came about through her work with the AWDF.[2][7][10]
Sekyiamah was a speaker at the 2015 Writivism Festival in Kampala, Uganda, and the 2016 Aké Arts and Book Festival in Abeokuta, Nigeria.[11][12]
In 2021, Sekyiamah had an anthology entitled The Sex Lives of African Women published by Dialogue,[1][13] described in a review by Margaret Busby as "an extraordinarily dynamic work".[14] A stage adaptation was subsequently performed in Nairobi, Kenya.[15]
In December 2022, Sekyiamah was named on the BBC's 100 Women list as one of the world's inspiring and influential women of the year.[16]
References
- 1 2 Malik, Nesrine (24 July 2021). "Polygamy in Senegal, lesbian hookups in Cairo: inside the sex lives of African women". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah". Cultures Uganda.
- 1 2 Fascendini, Flavia (8 May 2014). "Interview with Nana Darkoa: Adventures from the bedroom of an African woman". Gender IT.
- 1 2 3 "Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah". This Is Africa. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ↑ "Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah". openDemocracy.
- 1 2 "Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- 1 2 3 "Nana Darkoa to read at Goethe-Institut". Graphic Online. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ↑ "Standpoint: Adventures from Our Bedrooms – Blogging about diverse erotic experiences" (PDF). Feminist Africa. 16: 142–145. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ↑ "Standing on African Feminist Land". AWID 2016 International Forum. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ↑ "Women Leading Africa: Conversations with Inspirational African Women". Good Reads. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ↑ Waweru, Nduta (26 June 2015). "The Writivism Festival 2015: Exploring all things literature". The Star. Kenya. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ↑ Salihu, Addurrahim (27 November 2016). "Travelogue: From Kaduna to Abeokuta, the City Under the Rock • Olisa Blogazine". Olisa Blogazine. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ↑ The Sex Lives of African Women. Hachette. ISBN 9780349701653.
- ↑ Busby, Margaret (4 August 2021). "The Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah review – extraordinarily dynamic". The Guardian.
- ↑ Dahir, Abdi Latif (16 June 2022). "A Book Has Women in Africa Talking About Sex". The New York Times.
- ↑ "BBC 100 Women 2022: Who is on the list this year? - BBC News". BBC. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
External links
- Adventures from the bedrooms of African women blog
- Fiona Leonard, "Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah: Opening doors to African women's bedrooms", Global Voices, 31 March 2011.