About The Ocean Between Us 

The Ocean Between Us is a literary collaboration between A’bena Awuku-Larbi and Amy Shimshon-Santo. The writers were first paired together during a Mo Issa Writing Workshop, and they grew as literary friends during the global pandemic. Their letters correspond across space and time through a dialogue that connects their lives, languages, and imaginations. Their friendship continues to evolve in mutual learning and life support. The Ocean Between Us gives voice to the lives of two women separated by the sea but connected by epistolary poetry. This digital publication accompanies a live performance at the Pa Gya! Literary Festival in Accra, Ghana in 2022. Their approach marks a fresh intergenerational creative process cultivated between two women authors living through the pandemic in Accra and in Los Angeles.

A Note on Process
The motivation for this project was to stay connected and keep writing. Awuku-Larbi generated the idea of forging an epistolary structure of letter writing to stay in regular contact. In the letters, we refer to the idea of "composting" poems that Shimshon-Santo uses to develop a daily writing practice. The compost poem encourages one to take risks and create a daily rhythm on the page. Compost is nourishing for the creative process, even if it just fortifies the soil and does not become a publishable poem. It is designed to prioritize process over product.