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Episode 117 with Nadia Owusu, Introspective and Precise Writer and Chronicler of Trauma and Joy, Writ Large, and Author of the Award-Winning Memoir, Aftershocks
Episode 117 Notes and Links to Nadia Owusu’s Work
On Episode 117 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Nadia Owusu, and the discuss, among other topics, her early love of language and her experiences living in multiple countries, her relationship with her parents and her parents’ families, aftershocks both literal and figurative, colonialism and trauma, tradition, and coming to terms with her past and all of our pasts.
NADIA OWUSU is a Ghanaian and Armenian-American writer and urbanist. Her debut memoir, Aftershocks, was selected as a best book of 2021 by Time, Vogue, Esquire, The Guardian, NPR, and others. It was one of President Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year, a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, and a 2021 Goodreads Choice Award nominee.
In 2019, Nadia was the recipient of a Whiting Award. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The New York Times, Orion, Granta, The Paris Review Daily, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Literary Review, Slate, Bon Appétit, Travel + Leisure, and others.
Nadia is the Director of Storytelling at Frontline Solutions, a Black-owned consulting firm that helps social-change organizations to define goals, execute plans, and evaluate impact. She is a graduate of Pace University (BA) and Hunter College (MS). She earned her MFA in creative nonfiction at the Mountainview low-residency program where she currently teaches. She lives in Brooklyn.
Nadia Owusu's Website
From The Guardian, Feb 2021: "Nadia Owusu: 'I wrote as a way to process trauma' "
Buy the Award-Winning Aftershocks
Aftershocks Review in The New York Times
At about 2:50, Nadia describes her childhood reading interests and relationship with language, including the “important” Their Eyes Were Watching God and Things Fall Apart
At about 4:20, Nadia discusses books as constants in her life as the family moved often in her childhood
At about 5:00, Nadia responds to Pete’s question about Achebe’s book and its significance in African countries today
At about 6:40, Pete wonders about texts that were thrilling/transformational for Nadia as a high school/college student
At about 7:55, Pete and Nadia discuss the many places in which Nadia grew up, and she explores how reading connected to this upbringing, including ideas of empathy
At about 10:00, Pete asks Nadia about James Baldwin and his connection to Pan-Africanism
At about 12:00, Pete and Nadia discuss the implications of the Anansi and the African diaspora, and Nadia details the meaning of the term “bush” as used by her father and in the Ashanti culture as a whole
At about 14:35, Pete and Nadia discuss narrative and ideas of time in her book, and Nadia gives more insight into the significance of a family trip to Ghana and ideas of “double-consciousness”
At about 16:40, Nadia talks about not having a lot of information about, and connection to, her Armenian heritage, and how being Ghanaian and Armenian-American informed her life and the trip mentioned above
At about 18:30, Nadia describes the familial and political structures of Ghanaian peoples, and how they were and have been affected by colonialism
At about 20:20, Pete remarks on the specifics of “aftershocks” of the book’s title, as well as the skillful ways in which Nadia writes about how much of African life is still affected by European colonialism
At about 21:10, Nadia expands on the ways in which colonialism continues to
At about 22:30, the two talk about colonialism’s specific legacy in Tanzania, particularly with regards to oppression coming from organized religion and the horrid debacle with George Bush’s
At about 25:50, Pete and Nadia trace the book’s beginnings and the earliest “aftershock” that came in 1988 with the disastrous Armenian earthquake
At about 28:50, Pete and Nadia parse the usage of the word “aftershock” and trauma’s everlasting effects
At about 30:15, Nadia responds to Pete’s questions about her explor
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Episode 117 Notes and Links to Nadia Owusu’s Work
On Episode 117 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Nadia Owusu, and the discuss, among other topics, her early love of language and her experiences living in multiple countries, her relationship with her parents and her parents’ families, aftershocks both literal and figurative, colonialism and trauma, tradition, and coming to terms with her past and all of our pasts.
NADIA OWUSU is a Ghanaian and Armenian-American writer and urbanist. Her debut memoir, Aftershocks, was selected as a best book of 2021 by Time, Vogue, Esquire, The Guardian, NPR, and others. It was one of President Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year, a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, and a 2021 Goodreads Choice Award nominee.
In 2019, Nadia was the recipient of a Whiting Award. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The New York Times, Orion, Granta, The Paris Review Daily, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Literary Review, Slate, Bon Appétit, Travel + Leisure, and others.
Nadia is the Director of Storytelling at Frontline Solutions, a Black-owned consulting firm that helps social-change organizations to define goals, execute plans, and evaluate impact. She is a graduate of Pace University (BA) and Hunter College (MS). She earned her MFA in creative nonfiction at the Mountainview low-residency program where she currently teaches. She lives in Brooklyn.
Nadia Owusu's Website
From The Guardian, Feb 2021: "Nadia Owusu: 'I wrote as a way to process trauma' "
Buy the Award-Winning Aftershocks
Aftershocks Review in The New York Times
At about 2:50, Nadia describes her childhood reading interests and relationship with language, including the “important” Their Eyes Were Watching God and Things Fall Apart
At about 4:20, Nadia discusses books as constants in her life as the family moved often in her childhood
At about 5:00, Nadia responds to Pete’s question about Achebe’s book and its significance in African countries today
At about 6:40, Pete wonders about texts that were thrilling/transformational for Nadia as a high school/college student
At about 7:55, Pete and Nadia discuss the many places in which Nadia grew up, and she explores how reading connected to this upbringing, including ideas of empathy
At about 10:00, Pete asks Nadia about James Baldwin and his connection to Pan-Africanism
At about 12:00, Pete and Nadia discuss the implications of the Anansi and the African diaspora, and Nadia details the meaning of the term “bush” as used by her father and in the Ashanti culture as a whole
At about 14:35, Pete and Nadia discuss narrative and ideas of time in her book, and Nadia gives more insight into the significance of a family trip to Ghana and ideas of “double-consciousness”
At about 16:40, Nadia talks about not having a lot of information about, and connection to, her Armenian heritage, and how being Ghanaian and Armenian-American informed her life and the trip mentioned above
At about 18:30, Nadia describes the familial and political structures of Ghanaian peoples, and how they were and have been affected by colonialism
At about 20:20, Pete remarks on the specifics of “aftershocks” of the book’s title, as well as the skillful ways in which Nadia writes about how much of African life is still affected by European colonialism
At about 21:10, Nadia expands on the ways in which colonialism continues to
At about 22:30, the two talk about colonialism’s specific legacy in Tanzania, particularly with regards to oppression coming from organized religion and the horrid debacle with George Bush’s
At about 25:50, Pete and Nadia trace the book’s beginnings and the earliest “aftershock” that came in 1988 with the disastrous Armenian earthquake
At about 28:50, Pete and Nadia parse the usage of the word “aftershock” and trauma’s everlasting effects
At about 30:15, Nadia responds to Pete’s questions about her explor
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