EP 66: Adaeze Elechi, Author Harmattan - The Exploration of Self, Softness and Stillness

Those African Chicks - Exploring Identities of African Women

Adaeze is an author and filmmaker whose work focuses on the exploration of softness and vulnerability in people and spaces. On this episode, she shared latest work, Harmattan . Harmattan is a chapbook (collection of poetry and prose) that was inspired by her mother’s passing from a severe illness.

Harmattan is a self-healing journey that allowed Adaeze celebrate her mother life journey. We see her resurrects her mother’s essence throughout the book. For a book that appears to be a quick read, it is packed with so much emotion; taking the readers through the humanness of 3 generations of igbo women that are strong yet deeply delicate. This book took me through the nostalgia of being mothered and my own mothering. As our conversation progresses, we learn how

• Conversations with igbo ‘elders’ helped Adaeze come to the understanding of the continuation of people when they no longer have the physicality that binds them here (death)
• How the she learned and is learning to listen and lean into the self-evolution and emergence that is birthed by this ‘Harmattan’ season of life

This is one of those books that will require multiple reads, with each read revealing something different depending on reader’s state of mind.

Connect with Adaeze

Instagram - @ada_elechi

Website - Harmattan Book

Let’s Hang Out

Instagram - @thoseafricanchicks

Website - Those African Chicks

Music - Nice To You - YT Audio Library

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