kai alonté

kai alonté

Ghana

About

kai alonté is a Ghanaian American writer and visual artist based in Northern Europe. She holds an MPhil in Creative Writing from Trinity College Dublin and has participated in artist residencies at Gullkistan, NES, Arteles, and Hub Feenix. Her short story 3-Step Face Mask appeared in Sycamore Review in 2021 and won first place for nonfiction in the 2020 West Virginia Writers Contest. In 2024, her essay Embracing Life’s Layers Through Collage was published in Onko Maailma Valmis?, a collection organised by Kulttuuria kaikille, a Finnish organisation promoting cultural accessibility. Somewhere Soft to Land, published in April 2026 by Ballantine Books, is her debut novel. Her work explores identity, belonging, personal expression, and the complexities of navigating life across cultures.

Books on TheBookRoads

1
Somewhere Soft to Land
Somewhere Soft to Land
Dzifa has spent much of her life feeling out of place. Haunted by difficult family relationships and exhausted by repeated cycles of burnout, unstable employment, and housing insecurity, she struggles to find a sense of safety and belonging. Her closest source of support is Tatiana, her charismatic best friend, whose confidence and determination often help Dzifa navigate life’s challenges. Despite their differences, the two women share a desire to live authentically and free themselves from the expectations imposed on them as Black women. Their friendship faces its greatest test when tragedy strikes Tatiana’s family. After the sudden death of Tatiana’s infant son, Luca, Dzifa returns to Boston to support her friend and help prepare for the funeral. But grief soon gives way to a bitter family conflict. Tatiana’s partner and his parents begin questioning her ability to care for her surviving daughter, Maddie, threatening to turn an already devastating loss into a custody battle. Caught between two opposing families, Dzifa must decide how far she is willing to go to protect her friend. When Tatiana asks her for an extraordinary favour, Dzifa faces an impossible choice between loyalty to someone she loves and the need to protect her own well-being. With humour, emotional honesty, and an unflinching look at complicated family relationships, Somewhere Soft to Land explores female friendship, grief, motherhood, and the burden of respectability politics. It asks whether unconditional loyalty is always an act of love—and whether true friendship sometimes requires the courage to establish boundaries.
2026 Ghana