In the Akan language; Abakɔsɛm means history. But not history from paper.

It means history carried by voice; by drum; by memory; by fire.

Set in Akwamufie; Ghana; in 2002; this is the story of a boy who sits by a bonfire every night listening to his grandmother; Ernestina Okyere; trace the journey of the Akan people across three thousand years. From their ancient origins in Nubia and Kush; through the great empires of Ghana and Mali; across the long migration southward; through the rise of the mighty Akwamu Kingdom; and into the founding of the Asante Empire.

But Abakɔsɛm is more than a history lesson.

It is a book about what a people carries when they move; what they protect when they are threatened; and what they lose when they forget. It is a book about names and what they remember. About stools and what they hold. About fire and what it means to keep one burning across generations.

Because Africa did not begin with slavery.

Africa did not begin with colonization.

Africa began with fire.

And the fire is still burning.

"This is not Anansesɛm - not tales to entertain. This is Abakɔsɛm. The story of who we were before the world told us who to become."

Duke Abrokwa

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