Aminatta Forna
Aminatta Forna
Aminatta Fornais a Scottish writer. She is the author of a memoir, The Devil that Danced on the Water, and three novels: Ancestor Stones, The Memory of Love and The Hired Man. Her novel The Memory of Love was awarded the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for "Best Book" in 2011, and was also shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Forna is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and was, until recently, Sterling Brown Distinguished Visiting Professor at Williams...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionWriter
assumption coming complete crop hot life owns plantation talking thinks writer wrote
Everyone thinks I have a coffee plantation in Sierra Leone, but I have a cashew crop project. I wrote about a woman who owns a coffee plantation! When you are talking about a woman writer coming from a hot country, there's a complete assumption that she is writing about her own life.
country ended horrible lived trust
My childhood ended in this horrible way. I lived in a country where I didn't trust anybody.
became love loved operating spent surgeon watching weeks
I temporarily became a surgeon for 'Memory of Love'. I spent two weeks in an operating theatre, watching amputations, and I loved it.
drink moves mug particular upset
I don't have very many little fetishes, but the one I do have is that I like a particular mug to drink out of. It's just a small china cup, and I get very upset if my husband moves it.
writers
Most writers I know go for word counts, and I used to be a journalist, so I guess that's ingrained.
age ancient eight happened history start time trying work
No one ever sits you down at age eight and says, 'Aminatta, this is what's happened so far.' You have to work it out for yourself, and by the time you do, it's ancient history to many of the players. We're trying to make sense of the past, so we start to excavate our memories.
powerful important shifting
The Watch is a powerful tale, courageous both in concept and creation: an ancient tale made modern, passed through different narrators in extraordinary shape-shifting prose that makes this not just an important novel, but a remarkable read.
stood-up household
I was brought up in a household where you stood up to be counted.
country war writing
What ultimately happened is that my country had a war. I think it would be extraordinary, as a writer, not to want to write about that.
political historical narrative
Jung Chang was the first person to tell a grand historical, political story through a personal narrative.
war people survival
War had the effect of encouraging people to try to stay alive. Poverty, too. Survival was simply too hard-won to be given up lightly.
pain liars lying
All liars ... lie to protect themselves, to shield their egos from the raw pain of truth.
country want ifs
If you want to know a country, read its writers.
kinds literal novelist people truths
I was always at heart a novelist and wanted to tell a bigger story, so I wanted to create people who told other kinds of truths than literal truths.