Who I Always Was: A Memoir

For fans of Aftershocks and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, a gripping and deeply honest memoir in essays, this debut collection sets out to answer the universal question of: Why am I like this?

When Theresa Okokon was nine, her father traveled to his hometown in Nigeria to attend his mother’s funeral...and never returned. His mysterious death shattered Theresa as her family’s world unraveled. Now a storyteller and television cohost, Okokon sets out to explore the ripple effects of that profound loss and the way heartache shapes our sense of self and of the world--for the rest of our lives.

Using her grief and her father’s death as a backdrop, Okokon delves deeply into intrinsic themes of Blackness, African spirituality, family, abandonment, belonging, and the seemingly endless, unrequited romantic pursuits of a Black woman who came of age as a Black girl in Wisconsin suburbs where she was--in many ways--always an anomaly.

Theresa Okokon is an award-winning writer, storyteller, and teacher. Her work has appeared in Elle, midnight & indigo, Hippocampus Magazine, and much more. Her first book is the essay collection Who I Always Was. Follow her on Instagram at @Ohh.Jeezzz and find out more at TheresaOkokon.com.