In an exceptional evening of cultural richness five eminent novelists from around the world discuss the importance of place and culture in their novels in a session called “Voices From Around the World” at the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) 2015 taking place at the Expo Centre from 4-14 November. Susan Abulhawa, acclaimed author of Mornings in Jenin and The Blue Between Sky and Water, prize-winning author and playwright Sefi Atta, bestselling romantic novelist Elizabeth Buchan, Iraqi journalist and author Haddiya Hussein and Pakistani writer and poet Fatima Bhutto reflected upon the nature of writing through conflict and the importance of the novel in society.
Fatima Bhutto, niece of Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistan Prime Minister and an accomplished writer and poet whose father, an elected member of parliament, was killed by the police in 1996 in Karachi, said she wanted only to be a novelist, not a politician. She said, “I grew up always looking for home. I wasn’t brought up in Pakistan, I went there as a young girl of 11. I was born in Kabul and from an early age I found myself asking, where is home? I think when you have that question in your mind it never goes away.”This is a point that Susan Abulhawa, a Palestinian American writer and human rights activist agrees with. Abulhawa is author of bestselling novel, “Mornings in Jenin” and the founder of a non-governmental organization, “Playgrounds for Palestine”. She says, “Much of what I write about concerns occupation or exile, I look for home. Writing novels gives you an opportunity to ask questions and examine answers to them. I’d ask where is home because as a Palestinian we are forever guests, persistent visitors. Although my family comes from generations who lived in Jerusalem, we were forced to leave there. I was born in Kuwait, I didn’t know any other country, but discovered I was a guest there, it is not home. We lived in Oman, as guests and then I settled in America but after 9/11 I was not welcome there either. I found when you lose your homeland you lose part of your soul.”
Nigerian playwright and author Sefi Atta also grew up away from home and said this shaped her writing style. Atta was sent to boarding school in England while her parents were in Lagos and says her writing is all about disconnection and resolution. “I write about this sense of separation and searching and I will continue to do that until I feel a sense of peace. Even here I feel disconnected. And even though I grew up in the UK and now live in the United States I seldom write about those places. Most of my novels are set in Lagos.” Elizabeth Buchan, a UK novelist spent her childhood moving home every three years, including living in Egypt and Nigeria before moving to Guildford, York and Edinburgh. Buchan also has a sense of displacement in her novels due to being in school in Nigeria while her parents were in the UK. She says, “I was alone and as I crawled into my teenage years I realized how important story telling is. Stories are what connects us, despite being exiled, or homeless, we are all connected.”
Haddiya Hussein, Iraqi author, has no doubt how important a sense of place is in her novels. She says, “I want to tell you about the locale as it is very important in any fictional work. The place I was born is now demolished but that area remains in my mind with a sense of nostalgia which competes with the character and protagonists in my work. I empty everything on to the page but when I started my first novel in 1999 I knew I had to leave my home county or I would be imprisoned.” The panel took part in a questions and answers session and their books were available to buy. The SIBF continues tonight with a raft of regional and international writers discussing culture with visitors. For more information visit www.sharjahbookfair.com.