“I didn’t see you standing there
Somali-British girl
East African-East Londoner
Council estate wanderer
Fish ‘n chips and banana
Tracksuit and bandana
I didn’t see you standing there
Somali-British girl
I didn’t see you standing there
Somali-British girl
Somali
British
Girl.”
Safia Dirie: 14 years old, responsible, a bit of a dreamer and a young poet, loves braided hair and her hoyo's recitation of Surah Yusuf
Hoyo: Safia's mum, strong, great cook (of course!), loves the Qur'an, finds the new generation of Somalis puzzling, has a secret stash of vintage dirac
Abdullahi: Safia's eldest brother, mature, religious, 'man of the house' until Abo comes back, got straight after a stint in juvenile
Ahmed: Safia'a favourite brother, the 'lovable rogue', loves the street life, sweet-talker, gets crazy mad if anyone tries to 'check' his sister
Abo: Safia's long-lost father, just come from Somalia, intelligent, traditional and with a few surprises up his sleeve...
Hamida: Bengali pseudo-tomboy rebel, wannabe psychoanalyst and Safia's best friend
Firdaws: Safia's worldly wise cousin, stunning, a rebellious, confident exterior masking a soft centre...
Habaryero: Safia's auntie, perceptive, honest, getting married after several years of looking: he's Somali, he's from Holland and he's fiiiine, nayaa!
PLus loads of other characters who you will just have to wait and meet...
LOL
I smile every time I think about this book - I had such fun writing it! I hope people enjoy reading it, even half as much, insha Allah.
Na'ima
Monday, May 19, 2008
A poem about Ahmed, the Somali 'bad boy', Safia's brother
Bismillah
I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the work of a young Somali poet, Warsan Shire, a fierce 19 year old poet whose words are 'womanly wise'.
Her poem, 'Bus stop Genocide' reminded me so much of Ahmed and all the other Somali boys struggling to prove themselves without the tools to do it.
Listen to it here.
Be warned, it is deep and visceral, not easy listening but so vital.
Alhamdulillah, she will be gracing us with her presence, her poetry and prose at the East London launch on the 13th of July.
Will post more later...
I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the work of a young Somali poet, Warsan Shire, a fierce 19 year old poet whose words are 'womanly wise'.
Her poem, 'Bus stop Genocide' reminded me so much of Ahmed and all the other Somali boys struggling to prove themselves without the tools to do it.
Listen to it here.
Be warned, it is deep and visceral, not easy listening but so vital.
Alhamdulillah, she will be gracing us with her presence, her poetry and prose at the East London launch on the 13th of July.
Will post more later...
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Do Muslims need 'representative' reading?
Bismillah
A poster on our Facebook group asked why we need 'representative' stories, why we can't just read any book and identify with it.
I agreed with her to a certain extent: there are many stories and books that 'speak' to all of us, whether we are boys, girls, black, white, or whatever.
But I do feel quite strongly that every cultural group needs to see itself reflected in at least some of the books it reads. We need to read about people like ourselves, who face the same situations we face, who view life similarly to us, to gain confidence and insight into our identity and culture.
This was the basis of 'From Somalia, with love': the idea that Muslim teenagers and Somali Muslim teenagers in particular wanted to read about people like themselves, who faced the same problems, the same issues that they face every day. I also wanted to make the book a celebration of Somali and Muslim culture, a culture that is hardly-known and rarely spoken about.
If you look around you in the children's section of any UK library, you will see very few non-White faces on book covers. There are very few Black characters in modern children's literature, even fewer Muslim ones. I hope 'From Somalia, with love' will do something to change that scene... insha Allah.
Na'ima
A poster on our Facebook group asked why we need 'representative' stories, why we can't just read any book and identify with it.
I agreed with her to a certain extent: there are many stories and books that 'speak' to all of us, whether we are boys, girls, black, white, or whatever.
But I do feel quite strongly that every cultural group needs to see itself reflected in at least some of the books it reads. We need to read about people like ourselves, who face the same situations we face, who view life similarly to us, to gain confidence and insight into our identity and culture.
This was the basis of 'From Somalia, with love': the idea that Muslim teenagers and Somali Muslim teenagers in particular wanted to read about people like themselves, who faced the same problems, the same issues that they face every day. I also wanted to make the book a celebration of Somali and Muslim culture, a culture that is hardly-known and rarely spoken about.
If you look around you in the children's section of any UK library, you will see very few non-White faces on book covers. There are very few Black characters in modern children's literature, even fewer Muslim ones. I hope 'From Somalia, with love' will do something to change that scene... insha Allah.
Na'ima
Friday, May 2, 2008
Somali training!
After my publishers (Frances Lincoln) read the first draft of 'From Somalia, with love', they called me in for a meeting to discuss it. It was then that it emerged that one of the editors actually thought I was half Somali. Why? I guess because Somali culture permeates the book, it was inspired by it and seeks to introduce it to a wider audience, one that may have never known the delights of the dirac, danced the buraambur or tasted baasto iyo hilib!
And that ignorance about Somali culture is found everywhere, amongst Muslims and non-Muslims. Perhaps because they haven't been in the West for as long as South East Asians, or because they don't have a Bollywood of their own, Somalis are nowhere near as mainstream as Asians or other Africans as far as ethnic minorities go.
So, the question remains: how did Somali culture end up being the inspiration and focal point for a book by an ajnabi?
Working in East London first introduced me to Somalis (this is a story I tell in my book 'From My Sisters' Lips') but living in South London brought me into closer contact with them. I fell in love with the Somali women I knew: their strength of character, their beauty, their love for the Qur'an, their seeming fearlessness: so many of them reminded my of my mother.
But these were women who were my age and older. In order to write FSWL and make it believable, I needed an authentic voice: the voice of a fairly typical Somali teenager. And I knew just where to find that: the Somali forums online.
And that, as I will recount in a future post, was like walking into a whole new world... Nothing could have prepared me for that!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Who is Safia Dirie?
Safia Dirie, the heroine of 'From Somalia, with love' is a 14 year-old Somali girl who lives in the East End. She is fairly shy, reflective, a poet on a journey of self-discovery, learning to navigate the world around her.
"My name is Safia Dirie. My family has always been my mum, Hoyo, and my two older brothers, Ahmed and Abdullahi. I don't really remember Somalia - I'm an East London girl, through and through. But now Abo, my father, is coming from Somalia to live with us, after 12 long years. How am I going to cope?"
Does she really exist? In a way, yes: in so many young Muslim girls I have met. She shares their vulnerability, their strength, their desire to please their parents while finding themselves; their struggle between the carefree ways of their peers and the high ideals of Islam.
But no, Safia Dirie is not based on any one girl, no-one in particular. But I do hope she embodies many of the characteristics familiar to teenagers everywhere - thus making it easy to relate to her story, whether you are Somali or not, Muslim or not, British or otherwise.
"My name is Safia Dirie. My family has always been my mum, Hoyo, and my two older brothers, Ahmed and Abdullahi. I don't really remember Somalia - I'm an East London girl, through and through. But now Abo, my father, is coming from Somalia to live with us, after 12 long years. How am I going to cope?"
Does she really exist? In a way, yes: in so many young Muslim girls I have met. She shares their vulnerability, their strength, their desire to please their parents while finding themselves; their struggle between the carefree ways of their peers and the high ideals of Islam.
But no, Safia Dirie is not based on any one girl, no-one in particular. But I do hope she embodies many of the characteristics familiar to teenagers everywhere - thus making it easy to relate to her story, whether you are Somali or not, Muslim or not, British or otherwise.
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