E.E.: What a generous description – thank you! How is anything caught in fiction? It’s something mysterious, even to its author. I do recall writing an early passage of the novel, with the language far more ordinary, and showing it to my husband, who is a poet. His response: Tighten the voice, make it crunchier. So I let the voices speak with a little more passion.
A.E..: You had to put aside the manuscript of another work, your actual second novel after The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, to concentrate on Half blood Blues. What is the title of that work and are you going to try bringing it out now; I am sure your readers are curious?
E.E.: I’m sure every writer’s desk is filled with half-finished manuscripts, untitled drafts, stories that might one day be completed. Mine is no different. Yes – it was a novel that could not find its equilibrium, and kept tipping under its own weight. I don’t know if I’ll go back to it some day. Perhaps.
A.E.: On a lighter note, a Ghanaian friend of mine tells me that your name would be pronounced [edujan] and not [edugyan], though it is spelled that way. Is this correct? And what is the significance of your name. African names usually have a story, a meaning behind them. What is the story behind your name?
E.E.: Yes, your friend is correct. The name is actually not my original family name. My father’s surname was originally Anderson; for reasons known only to himself he changed it in adulthood to Edugyan, which is a name taken from somewhere within his extended family.
A.E.: Anderson sounds like a European name though; perhaps this was why he changed it – due to questions, again, of identity and roots.
And do you speak any Ghanaian language – Akan, Ewe or Ga for example – or would you learn one?
E.E.: I grew up in a household in which Twi and Fante were spoken, as well as English and French. I understand Twi and Fante far better than I speak them. Would I ever wish to learn a Ghanaian language? Yes – as well as so many others. If I had a second lifetime.
A.E.: As is common to African cultures, Ghana has a rich story telling tradition, especially in the folktales genre. Was there any experience of that kind of influence in your literary background?
E.E.: Not folktales, no, although I’m an admirer of several West African writers – Achebe, of course, but also Wole Soyinka, Ama Ata Aidoo, and Ngugi wa Thiongo, to name a few. But I was raised in Calgary, studied in Victoria and Baltimore, and my literary sensibility was formed by reading writers such as Ondaatje, Atwood, Richler, Toni Morrison, George Eliot, etc etc.
A.E..: Finally, all of us at MTLS express our gratitude that you took time off your busy schedule to talk to us and we look forward to your next book.
E.E.: Thank you. It’s been a pleasure.
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