Nneka M. Okona 🇳🇬
@afrosypaella.bsky.social
Chronicler of Black cultural memory | Author of SELF-CARE FOR GRIEF (2021) & THE LITTLE BOOK OF SELF-HEALING (2022) | The hottest under the sun ⚡️
Website: nnekamokona.com
the dead zine: thedeadzine.beehiiv.com
the black alone: theblackalone.substack.com
Website: nnekamokona.com
the dead zine: thedeadzine.beehiiv.com
the black alone: theblackalone.substack.com
Some news: this piece was selected as one of the 20 *best* pieces of food and travel writing for 2024! So honored and excited. My first anthology! 🥹
May 14, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Some news: this piece was selected as one of the 20 *best* pieces of food and travel writing for 2024! So honored and excited. My first anthology! 🥹
Delighted to share that I’m teaching food writing next month! 🍽️ www.nnekamokona.com/writing-food...
March 12, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Delighted to share that I’m teaching food writing next month! 🍽️ www.nnekamokona.com/writing-food...
After a long hiatus due to my own grief, the dead zine is back baby! In this last issue of Season 1 on food, I wrote about the last meal my Dad ate before his death, using meals as rituals for endings and the last meals of those incarcerated on death row. thedeadzine.beehiiv.com/p/the-grief-...
February 28, 2025 at 5:40 PM
After a long hiatus due to my own grief, the dead zine is back baby! In this last issue of Season 1 on food, I wrote about the last meal my Dad ate before his death, using meals as rituals for endings and the last meals of those incarcerated on death row. thedeadzine.beehiiv.com/p/the-grief-...
Really enjoyed my dinner last night. 💝
February 15, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Really enjoyed my dinner last night. 💝
My book on grief SELF-CARE FOR GRIEF (2021) was translated into a German edition. I got this in the mail around lunchtime and it was a bright spot in an otherwise hard day. Being an author is rad. 🥹🌟❤️🔥
January 29, 2025 at 2:40 AM
My book on grief SELF-CARE FOR GRIEF (2021) was translated into a German edition. I got this in the mail around lunchtime and it was a bright spot in an otherwise hard day. Being an author is rad. 🥹🌟❤️🔥
Here's a few of my favorite grafs from this essay + my ethos for this larger creative project that I wanted to share. Thanks to all for sharing & reading! theblackalone.substack.com/p/hello-im-l...
January 22, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Here's a few of my favorite grafs from this essay + my ethos for this larger creative project that I wanted to share. Thanks to all for sharing & reading! theblackalone.substack.com/p/hello-im-l...
This is the intro to my new creative project on Black loneliness called the black alone. In this essay, I contextualize my own loneliness with that of a wider phenomena within Black folk. I’d love to hear your thoughts as (and after!) you read. theblackalone.substack.com/p/hello-im-l...
January 22, 2025 at 6:34 PM
This is the intro to my new creative project on Black loneliness called the black alone. In this essay, I contextualize my own loneliness with that of a wider phenomena within Black folk. I’d love to hear your thoughts as (and after!) you read. theblackalone.substack.com/p/hello-im-l...
The first essay for the black alone, a new creative project from me exploring Black loneliness, drops on Wednesday at noon. I hope you join me. theblackalone.substack.com
January 20, 2025 at 6:38 PM
The first essay for the black alone, a new creative project from me exploring Black loneliness, drops on Wednesday at noon. I hope you join me. theblackalone.substack.com
First fried chicken cutlet of the year.
January 9, 2025 at 7:43 PM
First fried chicken cutlet of the year.
#1 most read within the culture section today. Not so bad for my Guardian debut.
December 23, 2024 at 1:30 AM
#1 most read within the culture section today. Not so bad for my Guardian debut.
I posted this elsewhere but thought it important to post here, too. This is Nikki Giovanni’s recipe for butter fried chicken that she shared with the @nytimes in 2020. I hope you fry some chicken for Nikki this week. 🕊️
December 10, 2024 at 9:08 PM
I posted this elsewhere but thought it important to post here, too. This is Nikki Giovanni’s recipe for butter fried chicken that she shared with the @nytimes in 2020. I hope you fry some chicken for Nikki this week. 🕊️
No idea how there continue to be more of y’all here since I’ve barely posted but hello! I’m Nneka. 🙂 Some of you might know me for my work on food, travel, Black history, grief, etc. I’m expanding to intentionally nurture my prose—I start my MFA at @antiochmfa.bsky.social next week! 🤭🌟 Say hello!
November 26, 2024 at 7:27 PM
No idea how there continue to be more of y’all here since I’ve barely posted but hello! I’m Nneka. 🙂 Some of you might know me for my work on food, travel, Black history, grief, etc. I’m expanding to intentionally nurture my prose—I start my MFA at @antiochmfa.bsky.social next week! 🤭🌟 Say hello!
A reminder that we allow ourselves to be formless and everchanging in a society that enforces limitations, pressures, and conformity. A reminder that we honor and remain our most authentic and fluid selves, through and through.”
— Breeana Nykole, Stay Fluid (2021)
— Breeana Nykole, Stay Fluid (2021)
November 20, 2024 at 2:23 PM
A reminder that we allow ourselves to be formless and everchanging in a society that enforces limitations, pressures, and conformity. A reminder that we honor and remain our most authentic and fluid selves, through and through.”
— Breeana Nykole, Stay Fluid (2021)
— Breeana Nykole, Stay Fluid (2021)
“A reminder that we refuse to live with anchors. A reminder that we do not force, but surrender. A reminder that we embrace the essence of spirit and life flowing through us.
November 20, 2024 at 2:22 PM
“A reminder that we refuse to live with anchors. A reminder that we do not force, but surrender. A reminder that we embrace the essence of spirit and life flowing through us.
With the Balenciaga (my first! 🤭) I inherited from my mama. ♥️🫶🏽✨
November 17, 2024 at 5:45 PM
With the Balenciaga (my first! 🤭) I inherited from my mama. ♥️🫶🏽✨
SELF-CARE FOR GRIEF is a guide to helping grievers navigate emotional, spiritual, mental & physical self-care as they mourn. No cliche explainers on grief bc they personally piss me off. Only honesty on the horrors of grief + holding yourself thru it. www.simonandschuster.com/books/Self-C...
November 17, 2024 at 5:34 PM
SELF-CARE FOR GRIEF is a guide to helping grievers navigate emotional, spiritual, mental & physical self-care as they mourn. No cliche explainers on grief bc they personally piss me off. Only honesty on the horrors of grief + holding yourself thru it. www.simonandschuster.com/books/Self-C...
My dog is the cutest but also the brattiest and moodiest so I guess it all evens out in the end.
November 17, 2024 at 4:23 AM
My dog is the cutest but also the brattiest and moodiest so I guess it all evens out in the end.
This is a brand new platform & no one really knows my story here but: both of my parents are dead now. I’m not even 40. My Dad died in 2021. My Mom 11 days before Christmas last year. I didn’t expect living after their deaths to few so…transformative & freeing? Found myself this year as I grieved.
November 16, 2024 at 10:25 PM
This is a brand new platform & no one really knows my story here but: both of my parents are dead now. I’m not even 40. My Dad died in 2021. My Mom 11 days before Christmas last year. I didn’t expect living after their deaths to few so…transformative & freeing? Found myself this year as I grieved.
New platform, same bad bitch. ✨ Hey y’all! Nneka here. How y’all feeling & doing on this fine Friday? #AddtoBlackSky #BlackSky
November 16, 2024 at 2:25 AM
New platform, same bad bitch. ✨ Hey y’all! Nneka here. How y’all feeling & doing on this fine Friday? #AddtoBlackSky #BlackSky