“I’m my father’s griot, this is a hymn to him. I am telling you this story so that I can turn my father’s blood and bones, and whatever magic his mother sewed under his skin, into history.”
And so begins Nadifa Mohamed’s debut novel, Black Mamba Boy. Based on her father’s amazing story of hardship and survival, it follows him as a little boy making his way from Northern Somalia to the cold shores of England.
I first heard about Black Mamba Boy last year when the long-list for the prestigious.
Orange Prize for fiction was announced. The list included Nadifa Mohamed, making her the first Somali-born author to achieve this honour. I bought a copy, and on a cold, winter.
Saturday morning, I opened the first page, not knowing what to expect. I was immediately transfixed by the novel’s Dickensian plot of a little orphan boy’s astonishing and heart-breaking adventure across continents, suffering and surviving the horrors of colonial wars and countless other misfortunes. By the time I closed the book it was nighttime, and I felt transported, exhausted, elated, and enriched. I wanted to talk to this fellow Somali writer who has made us all so proud to call her one of our own. I spoke to Nadifa Mohamed from her home in London, England where she lives and is currently at work on her second novel.
Before we talk about your debut novel Black Mamba Boy, tell me about Nadifa Mohamed, the author. What was it like growing up in England as young, Somali, Muslim girl?
Source: The Somaliland Press
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