My Story
Hello! I'm Ekiuwa Aire (pronounced eh-queue-wah eye-reh 🔊), a Nigerian-Canadian cultural connector who is passionate about building a love and knowledge of African history and culture with all kids.
I founded Our Ancestories and became a storyteller when I noticed the lack of diversity in the children’s book industry, specifically regarding children’s books on African history.
While I was initially motivated by a desire to teach my own kids about their history, I am now excited and humbled to be contributing to the preservation of African heritage and culture using my books.
I also love to take every opportunity I can to share my knowledge and journey with others, such as during seminars, at libraries, bookstores, or classrooms.
If you'd like to invite me to speak at your event, please use the link below.
Bringing Ancient African History to Today’s Kids
At Our Ancestories, we know that there is a deep divide between the truth of African history and the common understanding of it. We strive to bridge this gap through various means including stories, merchandise, and other informational content.
Our Ancestories' vision is to nudge the world towards a point where:
- There is an avid learning culture for African history.
- People of African descent are at least as exposed to African history as we are to Western history.
- Africans look more to our history as we pave a way for the future.
- Legends that make up African history are mainstream and are introduced to children across the globe.
Our Books are our Identity
We believe that using stories and games, children of all ages can be introduced to African history and culture.
Our captivating books showcase the feats accomplished by legendary African figures in a way that is easy to understand and entertaining.
Our accompanying workbooks and teacher lesson plans are also great educational resources that can be used by all cultures to explore African heritage.
Did you know that history provides kids with a sense of identity? Learning about history also gives children insight into their own culture and community giving them a more balanced view of the world.
Our Books are our Identity
We believe that using stories and games, children of all ages can be introduced to African history and culture.
Our captivating books showcase the feats accomplished by legendary African figures in a way that is easy to understand and entertaining.
Our accompanying workbooks and teacher lesson plans are also great educational resources that can be used by all cultures to explore African heritage.
Did you know that history provides kids with a sense of identity? Learning about history also gives children insight into their own culture and community giving them a more balanced view of the world.
Featured
We've worked hard to create beautifully crafted books that are not only culturally representative but are also engaging and educational. And our hard work has been rewarded! We've been fortunate enough to earn the following awards and media features.
Find our books in your local bookstores!
We understand that sometimes you want to hold a book in your hands before you make a purchase.
If you’d prefer to buy local, check out our directory of bookstores worldwide that have our books on their shelves. By supporting bookstores, you're also supporting the book industry as a whole.
We’re grateful for every bookstore that stocks our books, but if your store doesn’t have ours on the shelf, please suggest they order them.
A love of reading starts with a love of books
At Our Ancestories, we believe in giving back and fostering literacy whenever we can. We also believe that the best way to create an educated global society is by spreading knowledge.
This is why we donate our books to communities and organizations that need them.
This year, we've donated 100 books to Books for Africa. Books for Africa is a non-profit organization that works to develop youth literacy in Africa.
A love of reading starts with a love of books
At Our Ancestories, we believe in giving back and fostering literacy whenever we can. We also believe that the best way to create an educated global society is by spreading knowledge.
This is why we donate our books to communities and organizations that need them.
This year, we've donated 100 books to Books for Africa. Books for Africa is a non-profit organization that works to develop youth literacy in Africa.
Testimonials
Miss Dora
Reading to my children is my favorite thing to do with them. You can learn so much from just picking up a book and reading it. One thing that I promise myself as an educator is that I will teach children about black history. The book “Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba” is based on a true story about Queen Njinga who was one of the greatest female rulers of Africa. She almost died at birth and defied the odds to rule over 2 kingdoms in Africa. This is a must read.
Yinka
I was amazed at how professional and well-written this book is. The author obviously did her research, and it shows in the depth of detail. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in Idia or Benin history.
Karrie
My daughters absolutely love this story. I'm thrilled to have found a book for them to learn some African history. This book is not only beautifully written and illustrated, it teaches children about Idia in such a magical way. It inspires young girls, and teaches them that, they too, can be queens.
Kiana
We just received Njinga and it was beautiful!! The illustrations, the story, I loved everything about it. Thank you so much for creating these and educating our children on these great African women!!
Right now my daughters a little too young to actually sit through me reading the whole book but she loves looking at the pictures. What I love even more is that you’re writing about African women that aren’t that well known. I had never even heard of Idia or Njinga so I learned with each book