Join Black Women Connect for our November Book Club as we come together to discuss Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi.
This month, we turn to a bold, haunting, and highly original novel about identity, spirituality, trauma, embodiment, and the many selves that can live within one person.
We continue our in-person gatherings, with a hybrid option available for those joining online. Join us in downtown Toronto at King and Peter Street for an evening of thoughtful conversation, reflection, and community.
About the Book
Freshwater follows Ada, a young person born in southern Nigeria after being prayed into existence by their parents, Saul and Saachi. From childhood, Ada is troubled, volatile, and marked by a sense that something within them is not singular or settled.
When Ada moves to America for college, the selves within them grow stronger. After a traumatic assault, these inner selves, including Asụghara and Saint Vincent, begin to take more control, pulling Ada’s life in increasingly dangerous and complicated directions.
Akwaeke Emezi’s debut novel draws on Igbo spirituality, especially the concept of the ogbanje, while also exploring mental health, gender, trauma, and the limits of Western ideas of identity. The novel is formally daring, emotionally intense, and deeply unsettling in the best literary sense.
What to Expect
During our discussion, we will explore:
Ada’s fragmented sense of self and the voices within them
Igbo spirituality and the concept of the ogbanje
Trauma, survival, and embodiment
Gender, identity, and the limits of fixed categories
The relationship between spirituality and mental health
How Emezi uses form, voice, and perspective to tell the story
What it means to be whole, divided, protected, or possessed
Why You Should Join
The Black Women Connect Book Club is a welcoming community designed for thoughtful dialogue, shared learning, and collective reflection. This month’s novel gives us an opportunity to engage with a challenging and powerful work that opens up questions about identity, spirit, body, pain, survival, and the stories we use to understand ourselves.
How to Participate
• Read the Book: Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
• RSVP: Register to receive the event details and Zoom link if joining online
• Join the Conversation: Bring your insights, reflections, questions, and honest reactions
Who Should Join?
Anyone who identifies as a Black woman is welcome, whether you have been with us for years or this will be your very first meeting.
If you enjoy literary fiction, African diasporic storytelling, psychologically complex novels, and books that challenge conventional ideas about identity and selfhood, this discussion is for you.
Come ready to talk, listen, reflect, and reconnect. We look forward to seeing you in the room.
How to Prepare
📖 Read the Book: Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
💭 Reflect: Think about the voices, images, questions, and moments that stayed with you
☕ Get Comfortable: Bring your favourite drink and settle in for a rich discussion
What You’ll Receive
✅ Zoom link to join the discussion or in-person address
✅ A discussion guide with thoughtful prompts
✅ Access to our private Facebook group for continued conversation
✅ Connection with a community of Black women who love books and dialogue
About Black Women Connect Book Club
The Black Women Connect Book Club is a monthly gathering that brings Black women together through fiction and nonfiction by writers of African descent. We read, reflect, connect, and build community through the power of storytelling. It’s more than a book club. It’s connection, conversation, and sisterhood.
Bookings
Log in if you already have an account with us.
