Ayesha Harruna Attah
Ayesha Harruna Attah | |
---|---|
Born | December 1983 Accra, Ghana |
Occupation | Novelist |
Nationality | Ghanaian |
Genre | Fiction |
Ayesha Harruna Attah (born December 1983) is a Ghanaian-born fiction writer.[1][2] She lives in Senegal.[3]
Contents
Early years and education
Ayesha Harruna Attah was born in Accra, Ghana, in the 1980s, under a military government, to a mother who was a journalist and father who was a graphic designer.[4] Attah has said: "My parents were my first major influences. They ran a literary magazine called Imagine, which had stories about Accra; articles on art, science, film, books; cartoons—which I especially loved. They were (and still are) my heroes. I discovered Toni Morrison when I was thirteen, and I was hooked. I devoured everything she wrote. I remember reading Paradise, and while its meaning completely evaded me then, I was left feeling like it was the most amazing book written and that one day I wanted to write a world full of strong female characters, just like Ms. Morrison had done."[5]
After growing up in Accra she moved to Massachusetts and studied Biochemistry at Mount Holyoke College,[6] and then Columbia University,[7] and she received an MFA in Creative Writing at New York University.[8][3]
Writing
She has published three novels.[3] Her debut book Harmattan Rain (2009) was written as the result of a fellowship from Per Ankh Publishers — under the mentorship of Ghanaian novelist Ayi Kwei Armah — and TrustAfrica,[9] and was shortlisted for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Africa Region).[10] Her second novel Saturday's Shadows, published by World Editions[11] in 2015,[12] was nominated for the Kwani? Manuscript Project,[13] and has been published in Dutch (De Geus).[14] Her third novel is The Hundred Wells of Salaga, dealing with "relationships, desires and struggles in women’s lives in Ghana in the late 19th century during the scramble for Africa".[15]
As a 2014 AIR Award laureate, Attah was a writer-in-residence at the Instituto Sacatar in Bahia, Brazil.[16] She also won the Miles Morland Foundation Scholarship in 2016 for a proposed non-fiction book on the history of the kola nut.[17]
Harmattan Rain
Harmattan Rain was written in 2009, following the story of three-generation Ghanaian family, including Lizzie-Achiaa, Akua Afriyie and Sugri.
Lizzie-Achiaa was the brave matriarch of their family, who ran off looking for her lover and at the same time pursuing a nursing career. Her rebellious daughter, artist Akua Afriye, strikes out on her own as a single parent in a country rocked by successive coups, and Akua Afriye's only daughter Sugri was a lovely, smart girl who grew up too sheltered then leaves home for university in New York, where she learns that sometimes one can have too much freedom.[18]
Saturday's Shadows
Set in 1990s West Africa, Saturday's Shadows is about "a family that is struggling to maintain its cohesion in the midst of a tenuous political setting", of which it has been said: "Attah proves once again her proficiency as a writer. She demonstrates her dexterity as a writer with the accuracy and lucidity of her character development."[19]
Works
Novels
- Harmattan Rain Popenguine, Senegal, West Africa : Per Ankh, 2008. ISBN 9782911928123, OCLC 310739454
- Saturday's Shadows London : World Editions, 2015. ISBN 9789462380431, OCLC 903399393
- The Hundred Wells of Salaga New York : Other Press, 2019. ISBN 9781590519950, OCLC 1035458812
Essays
- "Skinny Mini", Ugly Duckling Diaries, July 2015[20]
- "The Intruder", New York Times Magazine, September 2015[21]
Other writing
- "Second Home, Plus Yacht", Yachting Magazine, October 2007[22]
- "Incident on the way to the Bakoy Market", Asymptote Magazine, 2013[23]
References
- ^ Lee, A. C. (14 November 2013). "Young African Writers Hold Forth in Brooklyn". New York Times.
- ^ Patrick, Diane (6 December 2013). "African-American Books Around the World". Publishers Weekly.
- ^ a b c "Ayesha Harruna Attah'". Pontas Agency.
- ^ Ayesha Harruna Attah, "Why I Write", Authors — World Editions, 30 September 2015.
- ^ Daniel Musiitwa, "Interview with Ghanaian Author Ayesha Harruna Attah", Africa Book Club, 1 May 2015.
- ^ "Mount Holyoke Event Archive: 2008-2015". Archived from the original on 2016-04-27. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
- ^ "Alumni Bookshelf". Columbia Alumni Association. Archived from the original on 2016-08-07.
- ^ "Ayesha: Ghana's rising literary icon". CP Africa. 1 April 2010.
- ^ "Interview with Ghanaian Writer, Ayesha Harruna Attah", Geosi Reads, 11 March 2013.
- ^ "Shortlists for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize – Africa Region". Books Live.
- ^ James, Anna (13 October 2014). "Visser of De Geus launches English language publisher". The Bookseller.
- ^ Attah, Ayesha (2015). Saturday's Shadows. World Editions. ISBN 978-94-6238-043-1.
- ^ "Kwani? Manuscript Project Shortlist". Kwani?. 17 June 2013.
- ^ "English and Dutch Debut for New-York Based Ghanian Writer Ayesha H. Attah". Book Trade. 1 April 2014. Archived from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
- ^ "One Hundred Wells" page at Pontas Agency.
- ^ Koinange, Wanjiru (11 September 2014). "Introducing the 2014 Artists in Residency Award Laureates". Africa Centre.
- ^ "Morland Writing Scholarships for 2016". Miles Morland Foundation.
- ^ Darkowaa Adu-Kofi (2 September 2014). "A review of Harmattan Rain, by Ayesha Harruna Attah". Ayiba Magazine. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
- ^ "Saturday’s Shadows by Ayesha Harruna Attah", Conscientization 101.
- ^ Attah, Ayesha (July 2015). "Skinni Mini". Ugly Duckling Diaries.
- ^ Attah, Ayesha (September 4, 2015). "The Intruder". The New York Times Magazine.
- ^ Attah, Ayesha (3 October 2007). "Second Home, Plus Yacht". Yachting Magazine.
- ^ Attah, Ayesha (2013). "Incident on the way to the Bakoy Market". Asymptote Magazine.
External links
- Author's official website
- "Interview with Ghanaian Writer, Ayesha Harruna Attah", Geosi Reads, 11 March 2013.
- Daniel Musiitwa, "Interview with Ghanaian Author Ayesha Harruna Attah", Africa Book Club, 1 May 2015.
- Ayesha Harruna Attah, "Skinny Mini", Ugly Duckling Diaries, July 2015.