''Aftershocks: A Memoir'' is a 2020 book by Nadia Owusu, published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, which won the 2019 nonfiction

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, ...

. The book is a memoir covering personal, political and historical levels related to the author's origins and itinerant upbringing in several African and European countries accompanied by her caring although globetrotting father from

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. Despite their intense nomadism, her father nurtured her affective and cultural bonding to their

Asante Asante may refer to: *Asante people, an ethnic group in Ghana *Asante Empire *Asante (name) *Asante dialect, a dialect of the Akan languages * Asante Kotoko S.C., a Ghanaian professional association football club *Asante (album), 1974 jazz album b ...

ethnic roots in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

, where they traveled every year to visit relatives and friends. The memoir spans her early childhood to her late twenties. Having been abandoned by her

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

mother when she was 2 years old, Nadia orphaned from her father when she was 13, following which she battles over the years to summon a historically contextualized, confident self as a young adult to gain socially minded, high level education and employment in the United States.

Reception

The book was reviewed by ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', and

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References

{{Reflist 2020 non-fiction books Memoirs English-language non-fiction books Simon & Schuster books American non-fiction books