This year, African authors celebrated Father’s Day on social media with photos and sweet messages dedicated to their dads and/or children.
Much like on Mother’s Day, some authors celebrated the occasion by posting about their children while others commemorated their own dads. See some of our favorite social media posts below:
Ghanaian-American writer Nadia Owusu is the author of Aftershocks (2021). She posted a sweet photo of her brother as a baby in their father’s arms, saying:
I love this photo of my father holding my baby brother Kwame who is now the father of a son and a just-born daughter. Happy Father’s Day, Baba, we miss you every day. And happy Father’s Day, Kwame, I love you.
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Nigerian poet and scholar Ogaga Ifowodo celebrated not one but two fathers – his biological father and his uncle who raised him. Read his heartfelt Facebook post below:
Egyptian-American writer Mona Eltahawy is best known for The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls (2019). She celebrated Father’s Day in a long caption full of gratitude for all the things her father taught her:
Happy Father’s Day to my Baba, who in that first picture is holding me 18 days after I was born, and can you see the big mouth I already had?!
My Baba and Mama have three children and my brother, sister, and I are so wonderfully different. Today, and every day, I celebrate the ways my dad has taught my siblings and me that fatherhood means love, kindness, and a heart that is big enough to be proud of us in all our differences.
Before we began to more publicly use such phrases as positive depictions of fatherhood and masculinity, my dad modeled those ways for us, showing us what a loving, gentle, nurturing and supportive man and father could be.
I grew up with a love of film and endless curiosity because my dad would take me to the Saturday morning cartoons at the cinema and along the way would answer all the questions of his inquisitive little girl.
I grew up learning to pay attention to the world because I grew up watching the news with my dad—so much so that when I told him I wanted to be a journalist and not a doctor like my parents, he said do it!
And I grew up watching football with my dad and to love it (see the third picture where we’re watching the opening match of the men’s 2014 World Cup)—so much so that even though I support Manchester United and he and my brother and my brother’s family all support Liverpool, we still love watching matches together.
And I grew up arguing and debating issues with my dad—loudly and with gusto!—in ways that encouraged me to continue to ask questions and to question authority everywhere.
And for all of that, I am so grateful!
Thank you for all the ways you have encouraged and nurtured my curiosity—for film and football, for this world and the importance of justice and freedom for all of us who live in it—and how, together with Mama, you have shown my siblings and me how to be loving, kind, and big-hearted people in this world.
I love you, Baba!
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Nigerian-Canadian writer Yejide Kilanko shared a blog post she had written in 2019 on the first anniversary of her father’s death. In the post, she commemorated all the personality traits her father had based on the letters of his surname. Read here.
Kenyan-Mexican actress and writer of children’s picture book Sulwe (2019) Lupita Nyong’o celebrated her father in a sweet post, saying he was “A teacher, leader, a husband and dad. A guiding light, you’re our launching pad. Daddy, Daddy, we love you.” She even included a cute performance of him singing in the second slide.
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Kwabena Opoku-Agyemang, writer and lecturer in English at the University of Ghana, posted cute photos of his sons chronicling them growing up. He seems like a wonderful dad!
British author of Raising Boys Who Do Better (2023) Uju Asika celebrated Father’s Day by posting a photo of her dad with a sweet caption:
Happy Father’s Day to this BAHD man who has done a most excellent job of stamping his genes on his three progeny. Abiye of House Cole. Father of sons, first of his name, Hot Dog King of England. My Babe papa and the silliest of sausages. We love you and your dad jokes. Thank you for being my lifelong partner in #RaisingBoysWhoDoBetter (and for all the juicy material for my book ).
Happy Father’s Day also to my beloved father-in-law PDC, my big bro Obi and my late dad Tony, first of my heart, who watches over us still.
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Azafi Omoluabi, CEO of Parresia Publishers in Lagos, said Father’s Day was a bittersweet day for her since it made her miss her late father even more.
Nigerian novelist Okey Ndibe took to the occasion to post a prank that his daughter played on him, showcasing their fun-loving dad-daughter bond. See below:
We love seeing African authors celebrate the people who raised them and fostered their creativity! Happy Father’s Day to all!
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