Don’t Whisper Too Much and Portrait of a Young Artiste from Bona Mbella

Don’t Whisper Too Much was the first work of fiction by an African writer to present love stories between African women in a positive light. Bona Mbella is the second. In presenting the emotional and romantic lives of gay, African women, Ekotto comments upon larger issues that affect these women, including Africa as a post-colonial space, the circulation of knowledge, & the question of who writes history. In recounting the beauty & complexity of relationships between women who love women, Ekotto inscribes these stories within African history, both past & present. 

Don’t Whisper Too Much follows young village girl Ada’s quest to write her story on her own terms, outside of heteronormative history. Bona Mbella focuses upon the life of a young woman from a poor neighborhood in an African megalopolis. And “Panè,” a love story, brings the many themes from Don’t Whisper Much & Bona Mbella together as it explores how emotional & sexual connections between women have the power to transform, even in the face of great humiliation & suffering. 

Each story in the collection addresses how female sexuality is often marked by violence, & yet is also a place for emotional connection, pleasure & agency.

Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.