Sierra Leonean academic and author of So the Path Does Not Die, Pede Hollist, wants more people to know about the diversity of Sierra Leonean literature: ‘I wish people are aware of the efforts by Sierra Leoneans to write in the country’s national languages, and the financial struggles to support young writers through workshops, retreats, prize-bearing competitions, professional editors, and competitive publication outlets.’
First Draft is our interview column, featuring authors and other prominent figures on books, reading, and writing.
Our questions are italicized.
What books or kinds of books did you read growing up?
I read all the 20-book children’s classics my parents had at home, along with whatever caught my interest in the adjacent encyclopedias. Later, I read the novels of Richard Gordon, P. G. Wodehouse, and James Hadley Chase. Of course, as a college student and now as a professor, I read a broad range of literary and other texts.
In your earliest days as a literature student, what books were foundational to your study and research?
At Fourah Bay College in the University of Sierra Leone, literature was taught by periods and genres using representative authors and texts. So, I remember learning about Old English (Beowulf), Middle English (Geoffrey Chaucer), the Renaissance (Willam Shakespeare), metaphysical poetry (John Donne), the Restoration (Alexander Pope and Jane Austen), romantics (William Blake), and modernists (T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound). Thanks to Eustace Palmer, I read my first African literature texts (The African Child by Camara Laye, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, The River Between and A Grain of Wheat by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o) around 1979-80. Ironically, I studied and researched African Literature in the United States.
What’s the last thing you read that changed your mind about something?
It was less the last thing that changed my mind and more the book whose impact has stayed with me and broadened my understanding of how the mind works. It is called The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge.
African universities and schools should develop a set of foundational texts that students must read before they graduate.
What is the last book/text you disagreed with, and why?’
I don’t know. There is always something to learn even if you disagree with a book’s thesis.
What is your writing process: edit as you write or draft first, then edit?
I do not have a set writing process. I sometimes write from a written outline but more often from one that lives in my head. I force myself to write, revise, and edit when I have a deadline. Mostly, I do all three at the same time. Thankfully, these days, I save my deletions. Then, weeks, sometimes months, and years later, I go back to them. As a teacher, I recommend outlining, but the bottom line is to write daily for a set number of hours.
Your first novel, So the Path Does Not Die, won the 2014 African Literature Association’s Book of the Year Award. What was your process for writing this book?
It was exactly like I described above. I woke at 2 a.m. and wrote a few lines, pages, and, at other times, nothing. I stared at the computer screen and fiddled until I returned to bed. Over about six months, an idea that existed faintly in my head about the trials and tribulations of African immigrants to America transformed into a story. Then, of course, the shaping and refining into the fully formed narrative begins.
So the Path Does Not Die explores the trauma of female circumcision. What drew you to this topic?
The novel explores female genital cutting, which involves trauma for some, no doubt. It navigates the reasons for and against the practice. It was topical when I drafted the story. I used it to provide a plausible psychological source to help readers understand Fina’s actions.
And what’s one thing about the reactions to the book that surprised you?
Female readers love the ending, but I cannot be a spoiler to my own story. So, buy the novel and find out. Pirated versions left out this most critical ending element, resulting in a messed-up ending.
I wish more people knew about the diversity of literature in Sierra Leone. Additionally, I wish people were aware of Sierra Leoneans’ efforts to write in the country’s national languages…
In 2013, your short story ‘Foreign Aid’ was on the shortlist for the Caine Prize for African Writing. Looking back, what’s one thing you might revise/do differently if you were to write it again?
Make it shorter by at least one-third, if not half.
You’re a professor of English at the University of Tampa, Florida. What books do you recommend to students who take your class?
That would depend on the class, of course. As a Star Trek junkie, I am now a fan of speculative fiction after reading the selections in Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora. I love the premises of ‘Sister Lilith’ by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers and ‘The Space Traders’ by Derrick Bell. I also recommend any book by Nnedi Okorafor, Namina Forna, and Octavia Butler, to name just a few. I will reread D. O. Fagunwa, Amos Tutuola, and Ben Okri to appreciate them anew.
What book should every African student read before leaving university?
That is too hard. African universities and schools should develop a set of foundational texts that students must read before they graduate.
What’s your literary pet peeve?
Spelling and writing conventions should be learned because they help writers communicate clearly. However, I do not let them distract me from a text’s message by elevating them to peeves.
What’s something you wish more people knew about literature from Sierra Leone?
I wish more people knew about the diversity of literature in Sierra Leone. Additionally, I wish people were aware of Sierra Leoneans’ efforts to write in the country’s national languages and the financial struggles to support young writers through workshops, retreats, prize-bearing competitions, professional editors, and competitive publication outlets.
Which three books on Sierra Leone should everyone have on their bookshelf?
Three excellent but underrated or underexposed books are:
So Pretty a Woman, a novel by Hannah Khoury. Sadly, this book is no longer in print.
The Freetown Bond, a memoir by Eldred Jones
A Dirty War in West Africa, a work of nonfiction by Lansana Gberie.
Who are the Sierra Leonean authors you’re most excited about today (and why?)
Farouk Sesay—a super-productive, multi-talented author equally at home writing in the three genres.
Elizabeth Kamara—a fresh new voice in poetry quietly building a body of insightful poems.
Nnamdi Carew and Namina Forna—taking Sierra Leone fiction into sci-fi and fantasy.
What is your favourite topic to write or read about today?
I like narratives, whether fiction or nonfiction, that take a character and me on a quest. Reading David Quammen’s Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, published before COVID-19, I felt I was on a mission with the author to figure out how viruses jump from animals to humans.
And what topic do you wish more authors were writing about these days?
Nonfiction about understanding human psychology, space, and time travel.
Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?
I recently read the Popol Vuh, the Mayan foundation story, and the Epic of Sundiata.
I like narratives, whether fiction or nonfiction, that take a character and me on a quest.
What are you currently working on?
A speculative fiction novel. Sorry, I cannot tell you more.
Question from Chimeka Garricks: If money was no object, what would you do with your life? PS: Being a writer is not an option.
I have stood in an operating theatre and watched live surgery. I want to go down the hall, watch autopsies, then get on a shuttle, fly into space, and watch the Earth.
Who do you think we should interview next?
Namina Forna⎈
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