Abrea Armstrong
Abrea Armstrong was born and raised in North Carolina and is a proud descendant of enslaved Africans. She earned her BA in Spanish Language & Literature from St. John’s University in Queens, New York. While living in NYC, she contributed to publications such as XXL Magazine, Revolt TV, and HuffPost Live, and was awarded a private poetry grant. Her poetry is now part of the Special Collection at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library at Wake Forest University.
Throughout her career, Abrea has been recognized for her excellence in mass communications, receiving honors including the Triad Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Most Influential African-Americans, 20 in their 20s, and Leader in Diversity in 2020. She was also named Most Valuable Emerging Leader by the National Urban League and received the 2022 MLK Young Dreamer Award from the City of Winston-Salem.
Ferry Tales is her debut novel, inspired by her own life experiences. Since her first journey to the Motherland, she has deepened her connection to her roots and officially became a Ghanaian citizen in November 2024. Abrea currently resides in her hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
All Books
Description:
Born of a legacy forgotten over centuries, Anana Freedman has all the trappings of a Black Millennial dream—cash in her purse, smoke in her lungs, liquor on her lips, and lovers in rotation. But the one thing she lacks is herself. When an unexpected wedding invitation to West Africa arrives, it cracks open the illusion, thrusting her into the troubled waters of her birth. There, between sips of whiskey, puffs of smoke, sweat of romance, and tears of mud, she must reassemble her deepest truth—one that lies somewhere between the story she’s been told and the one etched in her soul—or drown trying.
Advanced Praise
“Ferry Tales is an extraordinary and passionate transatlantic journey. Unapologetic in style and story, Armstrong’s voice sings from the page. Ferry Tales sings a new, powerful song of ancestral memory, humor, love, travel, and identity. An ode to the Diaspora. Ferry Tales is a joyous and subversive novel which is both an international love epic and, at the same time, a damning indictment on Corporate America. Authentic, poetic, and unflinching, Armstrong writes in the literary tradition of Hurston, Angelou, and Walker.”
—MK Asante, author of Nephew