Ghanaian writer and author of The Hundred Wells of Salaga, Ayesha Harruna Attah, says she was inspired to write her latest novel during the COVID-19 pandemic: ‘The inspiration for Zainab Takes New York came from being stuck indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the uncertainty of those first months of the pandemic, I thought to myself: write what you’ve always wanted to write—and that turned out to be a romantic comedy.’
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 anything I could get my hands on! My parents had a magazine called Imagine, and I would read it from cover to cover. Also, my grandmother ran a nursery school, and I spent my summer holidays devouring the books in her library. I was the library prefect in primary school. After tidying the shelves, I was spoilt for choice for books to read. I loved Ann M. Martin’s The Baby-Sitters Club series and anything by Roald Dahl. In high school, my friends and I exchanged books by James Patterson, Dean Koontz, and Jude Deveraux, and our library introduced me to Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. My mother and aunt were big readers, too, and it was through them that I read books like Barbara Kingslover’s The Poisonwood Bible.
What’s the last thing you read that changed your mind about something?
A chapter in Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer made me see plant life so differently. Kimmerer writes about the symbiosis between corn, beans, and squash in indigenous gardens, and it is so powerfully told. Corn reaches for the sun, beans dig deep and produce nitrogen for all three plants, and squash creeps low on the ground, keeping humidity for all three of them. It is more complicated than this, but their relationship is such a great metaphor for how we can learn to coexist with all our differences.
What is the last book/text you disagreed with, and why?’
It is an ancient text called the Instructions of Ptahhotep by Ptahhotep. Written thousands of years ago, it is a list of instructions on how to lead a good life. One of its messages is for men to keep power out of women’s hands. It made me wonder if women have ever had a break. That said, the text is a wonderful resource for learning about ancient African philosophy...
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