About Sex, Rites & Pleasure: Embodying Ancient Feminine
Join Seema Anand and Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah for an illuminating exploration of how ancient cultural traditions, ancestral rites and myth can reshape our understanding of modern female sexuality, offering practical and fun insights into navigating sex and intimacy today.
Drawing on their books: Seeking Sexual Freedom by Nana Darkoa, and Speak Easy: A Field Guide to Love, Longing and Intimacy by Seema, they uncover how ancient South Asian and African knowledge and enduring cultural practices can challenge stigma and open up more expansive, authentic ways of thinking about women’s bodies, pleasure and agency.
Expect a candid, thought-provoking and wide-ranging conversation that bridges past and present, inviting new perspectives on desire, connection and sexual self-knowledge.
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Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah is the author of Seeking Sexual Freedom: African Rites, Rituals, and Sankofa in the Bedroom.
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Her debut, The Sex Lives of African Women, was an instant classic, lauded by Publishers Weekly as 'an astonishing report on the quest for sexual liberation' and named a Best Book of the Year by The Economist. Nana Darkoa is also an award-winning podcaster, a festival curator, and the Co-Founder of the Institute of Journalism and Social Change. Her transformative work has earned her international recognition, including a spot on the BBC's 100 inspirational and influential women list and New Africa magazine's list of 100 inspirational Africans. You can reach her on Instagram at @dfordarkoa
Seema Anand
Seema Anand is a storyteller, mythologist, sex educator and a celebrated global authority on the erotic texts of Ancient India.
Credit: Sarvam Patel More
Bestselling author of The Arts of Seduction, a self-styled patron saint of pleasure, Seema is on a mission to show that when it comes to pleasure education, the past far outperforms the present. Speak Easy: A Field Guide to Love, Longing and Intimacy, her latest book was published in autumn 2025. Seema hoards books and handbags with equal devotion, convinced both can change a life, because knowledge and style are both equally powerful weapons. You can reach her on Instagram at @seemaanandstorytelling and https://www.seemaanand.net
Venue and bar opening times
This is an in-person only event in the British Library Knowledge Centre.
The Knowledge Centre and bar open from 18.00.
Please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event. If you have specific access requirements please email customer@bl.uk
Concessions
There are a range of concessions available. These include discounts for British Library Members, Young Persons (16–25s), and visitors on Universal/Pension Credit and free entry for carers.
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