See Photos of Accra Launch of Someone Birthed Them Broken by Ama Asantewa Diaka

July 04, 2024

Ama Asantewa Diaka launched her book Someone Birthed Them Broken in Accra, Ghana on June 13 at the Nubuke Foundation. The event was held in conversation with Bernard Avle.

The book was published on March 21 by Tampered Press in Ghana, and by HarperCollins’ imprint Amistad in the US on April 2. In this collection of short fiction, Diaka creates a portrait of young Ghanaians today. Diaka charts this constellation of interconnected lives in 13 stories, exploring themes such as corruption and economic hardship, trauma and infidelity, shame, neglect, and the tribulations of the female body.

The collection explores men like Opoku Sr., struggling to keep his family’s cocoa business afloat after his father’s passing along with caring for his eight siblings; his estranged son, Opoku Jr., whose girlfriend Boatemaa suspects he is sneaking around with another woman; John, who confides to his crush Baaba about a surprising encounter with a male friend over a game of FIFA; Baaba, who falls into a whirlwind romance with her professor that ends in violence; and their friend Ayeley, who is learning to accept pleasure after being raised to believe it is sinful.

Ama Asantewa Diaka is a Ghanaian poet, storyteller, and spoken word artist who performs as Poetra Asantewa. She is the author of the chapbook, You Too Will Know Me, and the debut poetry collection, Woman, Eat Me Whole, and her poems and fiction have appeared in print and online. She recently completed an MFA at the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives in Ghana.

See photos of the book launch below: