Ghanaian author Ivana Akotowaa Ofori will publish her debut novella titled The Year of Return where the ghosts of Africans who died during the Middle Passage rise up from the Atlantic and haunt the world. The novella will be published by Android Press in the US in 2023.

The novella is a work of magical realism and set 400 years after the first slaves from West Africa landed on the shores of Virginia. As the ghosts of Africans rise up out of the Atlantic Ocean and spread throughout the world, a U.S.-based Ghanaian journalist returns to Ghana and seeks answers for these “mysterious and otherworldly appearances” from the Middle Passage.

Ofori’s novella sounds absolutely fascinating and we cannot wait to find out the haunting effects the ghosts from the Middle Passage have on this sci-fi world. Ofori herself is thrilled about her publication debut:

Also known as “The Spider Kid,” Ivana Akotowaa Ofori is a writer of fiction, non-fiction and spoken-word poetry. Most recently, her short story “Exiles of Witchery” was published in the Africa Risen anthology (2022). Her work has also been included in the Flash Fiction Ghana anthology, Kenkey for Ewes and Other Very Short Stories, and the Writivism anthology And Morning Will Come. She has been longlisted twice for the Writivism Prize.

Congrats to Ofori on her novella! The Year of Return will be published in fall 2023. Stay tuned for more details.