There's a saying that if you want to hide something from a black man put it in a book, insinuating that people of African ancestry focus more on oral rather than written communications. This anti-intellectual sentiment about people of African ancestry some say was born out of slavery, a time when slaves were denied access to education with the subsequent consequences lingering for centuries.
Thankfully that's no longer the case and several emerging African authors are creating a renaissance of African literature by writing authentic African stories that correctly depict African characters with authentic African behaviors and sensibilities. These authors who previously only enjoyed a large Western following are now enjoying patronage by many people of African Ancestry including African readers in Africa and in the Diaspora and this welcomed trend is now also promoting the culture of reading in them.
One of these new authors is Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, a graduate of Vassar College with whose figure and looks a fashion modeling career wouldn't have been farfetched. Instead of heading for fashion runways, she listened to her inner voice to become a writer. She has written for The Village Voice, Metro, Trace Magazine, Parenting Magazine, AOL, Nike, L'Oreal & Bluefly. Her short story, "'Bush Girl" was published in African Writing and the anthology, Woman's Work. Her poem, "The Whinings of Seven Sister Cum Laude College Graduate Working Bored As An Assistant" is included in the anthology, Growing Up Girl.
Nana is now a bona fide and lauded African author who is writing from the African female perspective and allowing that demographic's voice to be heard loudly as her debut novel, Powder Necklace has propelled her into the limelight. She is now sharing the stage as an emerging African author and moving in the big league circles with more seasoned and celebrated African authors, especially after Powder Necklace pierced Amazon.com's Top 100 in July 2010 and was named among the Top 10 Books of 2010 by AfricaBookClub.com.
I recently met this intelligent, articulate and surprisingly humble sister who graciously agreed to an interview. During our discussion, it was obvious that because she was born to Ghanaian parents in the US, she's all too familiar with the prevalent identity crisis that most children of immigrants grapple with. This identity crisis is compounded for children of African immigrants because Africa is often wrongly depicted in the Western media as a continent of coup d'états, wars, famine and malnourished refugees. However, unlike many who let the experience marginalize and discourage them, Nana has chosen to passionately embrace all she is and make her experiences and journey of self-discovery available to the reading public via her brilliantly crafted novel. In this interview she discusses why and how she wrote the novel. Below are excerpts.
Who is Nana Ekua Brew Hammond?I was born in the US to Ghanaian parents and raised with my siblings in Queens, New York. I was a "Queens girl" who abhorred being different; and if I was to be different, I didn't want to be African, because Africa is generally depicted negatively in the media. When I was growing up, Ethiopia's famine in particular was constantly in the news. I was young and impressionable and didn't want to be associated with the negative images being shown.
The ethnic slur used to insult Africans at the time was, "African Booty Scratcher," perhaps to connote the image of an itching savage, which I didn't want to be associated with either. This ignorance was contagious to the point that I became mortified when my parents spoke our native language, Fanti in public, and was embarrassed of the tell-tale splatters of red oil dotting our kitchen wall--proof that we ate traditional Ghanaian foods. Also, being dark skinned in the US in the 1980s wasn't cool. There's a more pro-African sentiment now, but back then that wasn't the case. All these things made me try to disassociate myself from my African heritage.
My thoughts which manifested through my actions probably backfired. Perhaps fearing that we were becoming too "Americanized" or disconnected from our identity as bi-cultural children, at the age of 12, my parents had the brilliant idea to send my siblings and me home to Ghana. We initially thought it was for a vacation, but we quickly realized that we had one way tickets.
What did you experience in Ghana? I realized quickly that I was really misinformed. In reality, people are people everywhere. What I was being told by my parents such as, “All kids are always well behaved in Ghana” and what was being suggested by the media--that every country in the African continent is ravished by famine--was very incorrect. Although my parents romanticized Ghana by saying, “All kids are always well behaved,” in reality kids behave badly in Ghana too.
The way the African continent was being depicted in the media just told part of the story. As the saying goes, if it bleeds it reads, so I guess the US media was telling African stories they deemed newsworthy, which were all negative stories, without realizing that many people assume that the few images they show of a small part of Africa applies to the whole continent. In reality, although many Africans are in dire straits, certainly not all Africans are. Many are also very wealthy, and many Africans in Africa are living their lives, working, schooling, running businesses and traveling. All of which I didn't see in the media growing up, so I had the wrong impression of who I was, my culture, my heritage and where my parents come from.
How did schooling in Ghana change you? I had a complete transformation. I went to Ghana as "Nana," a girl who didn't understand or appreciate her heritage. However, by the time I left, I had experienced a psychological rebirth and I became "Nana Ekua," a young lady who is extremely proud of Ghana's history, and her Ghanaian culture and heritage.
Where are you now in your journey of self-discovery?I now love and appreciate who I am. I love Ghana, Africa, and America. My being different which I once viewed as a burden is now one of the things I celebrate most about myself. You can't shut me up about Ghana now.
Are you an African, an American or both?It depends on who you ask and where you ask me that question. In Ghana, I feel more American, but in America, I feel Ghanaian. Last August I did a book launch in Ghana which was great; however it brought the issue that I'm sometimes perceived as an “outsider” to light. Even though my parents are Ghanaians and ethnically I am a Ghanaian, in Ghana I'm considered an “Obroni" which means "a Caucasian, a white person or a foreigner.” The word can be used in the racial or cultural context, and in my case it is used in the cultural context. I'm considered "other" even though I remind them that my parents are both Ghanaians and I spent three years schooling there.
How do you define yourself?Defining “who I am” is interesting because growing up in the US I felt I was an "outsider or other" and at the same time in Ghana, I'm also an "outsider or other." The reality is I am a product of both places so I can't claim just one. I now embrace my dual identity fully. I think that anyone who has spent a significant amount of time away from their native country and culture grapples with this because just as we as people change and evolve, culture evolves too, whether or not we are aware of it. For example, when my parents left the US and returned to Ghana, they had changed from who they were when they first immigrated to the US. The Ghana they returned to as older people had also changed from the Ghana they left.
You've lived in the US and Ghana, do you cling to the African author title? I feel my writing and I are as authentically "African" as any other African that is born and raised in any African country. I also think the notion of what "African Literature" is continues to evolve. For example, Chris Cleave is the Caucasian British author of Little Bee, a book about an African protagonist. Is he an "African writer?" Is Little Bee an "African book?" The answer you receive to those questions depends on who you ask. So, I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I know who I am, which is a writer who was born in the US to Ghanaian parents and raised both in the US and Ghana.
What is your novel, Powder Necklace about? It is a fictionalized account of my experiences at Mfantsiman Girls' Secondary School in Ghana. The novel depicts a time at the school when there was water scarcity. To ensure their kids didn't lack anything including water, rich families had barrels of water sent to their kids at the school. These rich students were able to take their baths and as a status symbol they put powder on their necks to show they had taken their baths while others couldn't. This showed that they were privileged and separate from the poor students. In response to this and to avoid being labeled as poor, other students who hadn't taken their baths started following suit. Then everyone began putting powder on their necks. We used to jokingly call it "polish on dirt." But now that I think about it, these actions became an equalizer. It was really a unique way of us as young teenage girls handling our situation the best way we knew how. We refused to be marginalized and ultimately we rose above the situation.
Of all the experiences you could've written about, why did you chose that one? My time in Ghana was life changing. Imagine my horror being a girl from Queens, New York, who was just getting used to bathing out of a bucket of water fetched from a tap only to face no water coming out of that tap. I was shocked to say the least, but I survived and I’m a better person because of it. In addition to that, the display of the differences between people based on their families' social stratification at such young ages is very memorable to me. Finally, I was immersed in my native culture for the first time in my life and I was able to form a completely new opinion of Ghana, Africa, and by extension, myself.
Why did you choose to write the novel?I wrote it because I wanted to expand the idea of black literature to include the African, Afro-European, and immigrant experience. I also wanted to get across the idea that events in your life that appear to be random actually have a point. Finally, I wanted people to be proud of who they are, where they come from and invite people to investigate the world beyond their block, circle of friends, etc.
What made you believe you could become an author?Books like Zadie Smith's White Teeth, April Sinclair's Coffee Will Make You Black, Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory, Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood, Ama Ata Aidoo's Dilemma of a Ghost, Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone, Shauna Singh Baldwin's What the Body Remembers, and Janet Fitch's White Oleander validated my presence as a young lady who didn't fit the prevalent media stereotypes and opened me up to the possibility that I have what it takes to be a writer.
Describe your writing process?For several years, I literally wrote Powder Necklace on my laptop during my one hour commute to and from work on the New York City Subway's F train. I also wrote till I dropped most nights and I'd wake up at 5 am in the morning and continue. I did this for spurts of time. Then I would stop for about a year and return to it. I had sleepless nights writing because I was very passionate about writing the story.
Now with my second novel things are different because my life has changed. I have moved closer to my job, so I don't have a long commute anymore. I'm also older now, so I get tired faster, but I write all the time even on my blackberry. Anytime I think of something such as an idea or a phrase, I document it immediately so I don't forget and include it later.
What inspires you? I'm inspired by dual identities and displacement issues because those are some of my experiences and I also like travel themes, but to challenge myself in my second novel, all the characters stay in Africa. However, the dual identity and displacement feelings are still present.
African parents desire prestigious and financially lucrative careers for their children, but writing isn't necessarily either and it's certainly not popular with most African parents. How did you convince your parents that this is a good career path for you? My parents didn't like or embrace the idea of me being a writer initially. They wanted me to become a doctor. When that didn't work out they said, “Ok, you can become a lawyer.” They were disappointed when that didn't work out either.
Ultimately, they want what's best for me. They just had to be made aware that now there are many more options available to become successful. Also, I'm a working girl, so in addition to being a writer, I work and live a comfortable lifestyle, which was their main concern.
Have your parents changed their views since the success of your novel? Now my parents are very proud of me. They now often tease that they planned everything. They say, "If we hadn't sent you to Ghana, you wouldn't have had the experiences Powder Necklace is based on." So they get some credit.
How did achieve the almost impossible feat of getting Powder Necklace published by Simon and Schuster?It took me four years to find a literary agent. I submitted my manuscript to many agents. The ones that responded would say, “It would be great if you changed this, this and that. Then we will review it again.” I'd make the requested changes, but then they'd respond saying, “That's not what we had in mind.” This continued for a while with different agents. Slowly but surely, I began feeling disappointed because of the rejections even after I had complied with their requests.
Then I met a lady who was a new literary agent. She loved the story and was passionate about getting it published. She offered to work with me and while I was thinking things through, I discussed the situation with a friend of mine who is an insider in the publishing world. She told me she had never heard of the lady, so initially I was somewhat skeptical. However, I wasn't getting any other offers, so I prayed about it and I decided to work with her. Within two months she sold my novel to Simon and Schuster. So it's sometimes good to take a chance with an unknown and both of you can grow together.
What's next for you? I'm still promoting Powder Necklace, working on my second novel tentatively titled Maids and Mothers, working on a script which is still in its early stages, and living life working and shuttling between the US and Ghana.
What message do you have for your fans?I love and appreciate you all. My hope is that Powder Necklace will encourage and inspire you in the same way the books I mentioned earlier spurred me to write. Please stay in touch with me via Facebook.com/PowderNecklace, www.nanaekua.com and Twitter.com/nanaekua
