If you want to know a country, read its writers. Aminatta Forna More Quotes by Aminatta Forna More Quotes From Aminatta Forna All liars ... lie to protect themselves, to shield their egos from the raw pain of truth. Aminatta Forna pain liars lying War had the effect of encouraging people to try to stay alive. Poverty, too. Survival was simply too hard-won to be given up lightly. Aminatta Forna survival war people What ultimately happened is that my country had a war. I think it would be extraordinary, as a writer, not to want to write about that. Aminatta Forna writing war country I was brought up in a household where you stood up to be counted. Aminatta Forna household stood-up Jung Chang was the first person to tell a grand historical, political story through a personal narrative. Aminatta Forna political historical stories The Watch is a powerful tale, courageous both in concept and creation: an ancient tale made modern, passed through different narrators in extraordinary shape-shifting prose that makes this not just an important novel, but a remarkable read. Aminatta Forna narrators powerful important A hospital is a good place to set various dilemmas. Aminatta Forna hospital place good good-place I'm at my desk for about 9:30 A.M., and I stay there all day. Then there's a lot of checking Facebook and eBay and that sort of thing. Aminatta Forna desk stay facebook day Most writers I know go for word counts, and I used to be a journalist, so I guess that's ingrained. Aminatta Forna guess go know used I don't have very many little fetishes, but the one I do have is that I like a particular mug to drink out of. It's just a small china cup, and I get very upset if my husband moves it. Aminatta Forna small upset drink husband Increasingly, there are those of us who write from outside the center, and those are the writers that I'm most interested in because they bring me into worlds that I did not previously know. And that, as a writer, is what I try to create. Aminatta Forna create try know me I get a very vague idea and - perhaps because I once was a journalist, or perhaps because that's what made me want to be a journalist - I go off and explore it for a bit, rather than mapping out a plot and then filling in the research. Aminatta Forna go me research want My family's a ruling family. Aminatta Forna ruling family I temporarily became a surgeon for 'Memory of Love'. I spent two weeks in an operating theatre, watching amputations, and I loved it. Aminatta Forna loved memory theatre love I was always at heart a novelist and wanted to tell a bigger story, so I wanted to create people who told other kinds of truths than literal truths. Aminatta Forna story always heart people My childhood ended in this horrible way. I lived in a country where I didn't trust anybody. Aminatta Forna childhood trust country way No one ever sits you down at age eight and says, 'Aminatta, this is what's happened so far.' You have to work it out for yourself, and by the time you do, it's ancient history to many of the players. We're trying to make sense of the past, so we start to excavate our memories. Aminatta Forna work time memories history Everyone thinks I have a coffee plantation in Sierra Leone, but I have a cashew crop project. I wrote about a woman who owns a coffee plantation! When you are talking about a woman writer coming from a hot country, there's a complete assumption that she is writing about her own life. Aminatta Forna woman you coffee life I'm a doctor's daughter. I'm not squeamish at all. Aminatta Forna doctor daughter
