We are excited to reveal the covers for Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah’s highly anticipated new book Seeking Sexual Freedom: African Rites, Rituals and Sankofa in the Bedroom. The book will be published simultaneously in the UK and US with distinct cover designs for each market.

The acclaimed African feminist and activist, author of the groundbreaking The Sex Lives of African Women has spent nearly three years traveling across African countries and speaking with people throughout the continent and diaspora for this new work.

Seeking Sexual Freedom is described as “part memoir, part travelogue and choc full of insights from African Aunties, traditional practitioners, and contemporary sex positive African people about how we can all experience more sexual freedom in the here and now.”

The book is organized in three parts. Sekyiamah first takes readers across the African continent, from Senegal to Tanzania and beyond, where she meets and trains with gurus, ‘witches’, and aunties whose job it is to guide girls through puberty rites and later through ‘marital training.’ She discusses practices like beading and pulling, while highlighting the spiritual and gender-fluid nature of African traditional religions.

The second part examines how colonialism and western patriarchal norms have affected African sexuality, leading to warped ideals of beauty and shame, internalized racism, as well as state and interpersonal violence that stand in the way of sexual liberation.

Finally, Sekyiamah shows how to overcome these hurdles by returning to more joyful and free sexual practices, using practical advice and prompts to chart individual journeys toward liberation.

“I make the case that we need to go back to some of our ancient African rites and rituals, imbue them with feminist energy in order to find out what sexual freedom looks like for us individually and collectively,” the author explains.

The book applies sankofa, which means learning from the past to inform the future, to sex and pleasure, reclaiming African traditions in a quest to achieve sexual freedom.

Described as “part travelogue and part manifesto,” Seeking Sexual Freedom is positioned as “the powerful and bold call to joy and sexual freedom women of all backgrounds need today.”

The UK edition will be published by Dialogue Books and is available for pre-order ahead of its March 5, 2026 publication date. The US edition will be published by Atria/One Signal Publishers and is available for pre-order ahead of its March 3, 2026 release.