Sunday, March 31, 2019

Ayesha Harruna Attah

Ayesha Harruna Attah is the author of three novels: Harmattan Rain, nominated for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize; Saturday's Shadows, shortlisted for the Kwani? Manuscript Project in 2013; and The Hundred Wells of Salaga.

Recently I asked Attah about what she was reading. Her reply:
I just finished Bisi Adjapon’s Of Women and Frogs, a novel about a girl’s sexual and emotional awakening in a world where the adults can’t stop lying to her about life. Esi is a feisty half-Ghanaian half-Nigerian girl who questions everything she sees. Her father has mistresses and yet chastises his daughters for having boyfriends. She is caught between adoring her father and loathing him for his hypocrisy. Her intelligence means she’s privy to the secrets everyone around her is keeping, and yet, a big secret is also being kept from her, that of her mother’s whereabouts. This book doesn’t hold back on the juicy details that come with Esi’s awakening and growing up, while highlighting the political upheaval Ghana goes through in its early post-colonial years. Adjapon’s skill is in making us laugh one minute, and then crushing our hearts the next. Highly recommend this book.
Visit Ayesha Harruna Attah's website.

--Marshal Zeringue