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Ayesha Harruna Attah

{{Short description|Ghanaian-born fiction writer (born 1983)|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Ayesha Harruna Attah

| image = Ayesha Harruna Attah 2112075.jpg

| caption =

| birth_date = December {{birth year and age|1983}}

| birth_place = Accra, Ghana

| death_date =

| death_place =

| education = Mount Holyoke College;
Columbia University;
New York University

| occupation = Novelist

| nationality = Ghanaian

| genre = Fiction

| subject =

| influences =

| influenced =

| awards =

| website = {{website|https://www.ayeshaattah.com/}}

}}

Ayesha Harruna Attah (born December 1983) is a Ghanaian-born fiction writer.{{cite news|last1=Lee|first1=A. C.|title=Young African Writers Hold Forth in Brooklyn|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/nyregion/young-african-writers-hold-forth-in-brooklyn.html?_r=0|work=The New York Times|date=14 November 2013}}{{cite news|last1=Patrick|first1=Diane|title=African-American Books Around the World|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/60288-african-american-books-around-the-world-african-american-interest-books-2013-14.html|work=Publishers Weekly|date=6 December 2013}} She lives in Senegal.{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/ayesha-harruna-attah-deep-blue-between-interview/|title=For This Writer, Fiction Is a Science Experiment|website=Kirkus Reviews|first=Connie|last=Ogle|date=3 March 2022|access-date=5 July 2023}}

Early years and education

Ayesha Harruna Attah was born in Accra, Ghana, in the 1980s, under a military government, to a mother who was a journalist and father who was a graphic designer.Ayesha Harruna Attah, [http://www.worldeditions.org/blog/ayesha-harruna-attah-why-i-write/ "Why I Write"], Authors — World Editions, 30 September 2015. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731211132/http://www.worldeditions.org/blog/ayesha-harruna-attah-why-i-write |date=31 July 2016 }}. Attah has said: "My parents were my first major influences. They ran a literary magazine called Imagine, which had stories about Accra; articles on art, science, film, books; cartoons—which I especially loved. They were (and still are) my heroes. I discovered Toni Morrison when I was thirteen, and I was hooked. I devoured everything she wrote. I remember reading Paradise, and while its meaning completely evaded me then, I was left feeling like it was the most amazing book written and that one day I wanted to write a world full of strong female characters, just like Ms. Morrison had done."{{cite web|first=Daniel|last=Musiitwa|url=http://www.africabookclub.com/?p=16589 |title=Interview with Ghanaian Author Ayesha Harruna Attah|website=Africa Book Club|date= 1 May 2015}}

After growing up in Accra, she moved to Massachusetts and studied biochemistry at Mount Holyoke College,{{cite web|title=Mount Holyoke Event Archive: 2008-2015|url=https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/english/event-archive|access-date=6 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427092544/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/english/event-archive|archive-date=27 April 2016|url-status=dead}} and then earned her master's degree in magazine journalism at the Columbia University,{{cite web|url=https://alumni.columbia.edu/bookshelf?author=ayesha+attah&title=&keyword=&affiliation=All&school=All&year=All&genre=All&subject=All |title=Alumni Bookshelf |publisher=Columbia Alumni Association |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807150122/https://alumni.columbia.edu/bookshelf?author=ayesha+attah&title=&keyword=&affiliation=All&school=All&year=All&genre=All&subject=All |archive-date=7 August 2016 }} and she received an MFA in creative writing at New York University.{{cite web|title=Ayesha: Ghana's rising literary icon|url=http://www.cp-africa.com/2010/04/01/ayesha-ghanas-rising-literary-icon/|work=CP Africa|author=Ibrahim|date=1 April 2010|access-date=9 May 2016|archive-date=10 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910115324/http://www.cp-africa.com/2010/04/01/ayesha-ghanas-rising-literary-icon/|url-status=dead}}

Writing

Attah has published five novels.{{cite web|url=http://www.pontas-agency.com/ayesha-harruna-attah-2/|website=Pontas Agency|title=Ayesha Harruna Attah'|access-date=28 April 2016|archive-date=4 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804150226/http://www.pontas-agency.com/ayesha-harruna-attah-2/|url-status=dead}} Her debut book Harmattan Rain (2008) was written as the result of a fellowship from Per Ankh Publishers — under the mentorship of Ghanaian novelist Ayi Kwei Armah — and TrustAfrica,{{Cite web |date=2013-03-11 |title=Interview with Ghanaian Writer, Ayesha Harruna Attah |url=https://geosireads.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/interview-with-ghanaian-writer-ayesha-harruna-attah/ |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=Geosi Reads |language=en}} and was shortlisted for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Africa Region).{{cite web|url=http://bookslive.co.za/blog/2010/02/18/shortlists-for-the-2010-commonwealth-writers-prize-africa-region/|website=Books Live|title=Shortlists for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize – Africa Region|author=Ben|date=18 February 2010}} Her second novel Saturday's Shadows, published by World Editions{{cite news|last1=James|first1=Anna|title=Visser of De Geus launches English language publisher|url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/vissner-de-geus-launches-english-language-publisher|work=The Bookseller|date=13 October 2014}} in 2015,{{cite book|last1=Attah|first1=Ayesha|title=Saturday's Shadows|date=2015|publisher=World Editions|isbn=978-94-6238-043-1}} was nominated for the Kwani? Manuscript Project,{{cite web|title=Kwani? Manuscript Project Shortlist|url=http://manuscript.kwani.org/kwani-manuscript-project-shortlists.php|date=17 June 2013|website=Kwani?|access-date=6 May 2016|archive-date=21 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121154928/http://manuscript.kwani.org/kwani-manuscript-project-shortlists.php|url-status=dead}} and has been published in Dutch (De Geus).{{cite news|title=English and Dutch Debut for New-York Based {{sic|Ghan|ian|hide=y}} Writer Ayesha H. Attah|url=http://www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/53187|work=Book Trade|date=1 April 2014|access-date=6 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160814234608/http://www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/53187|archive-date=14 August 2016|url-status=dead}} Her third novel is The Hundred Wells of Salaga (2019),{{cite web|url=https://www.shelf-awareness.com/max-issue.html?issue=309#m654|title=Maximum Shelf: The Hundred Wells of Salaga|website=Shelf Awareness|first=Jen|last=Forbus|date=24 September 2018|access-date=5 July 2023}} dealing with "relationships, desires and struggles in women’s lives in Ghana in the late 19th century during the scramble for Africa".[http://www.pontas-agency.com/books/ayesha-harruna-attah/one-hundred-wells/ "One Hundred Wells" page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804141239/http://www.pontas-agency.com/books/ayesha-harruna-attah/one-hundred-wells/ |date=4 August 2019 }} at Pontas Agency. She has written The Deep Blue Between, a novel for young adults. Her fifth novel, the romantic comedy Zainab Takes New York, was released in April 2022.{{cite web|url=https://brittlepaper.com/2022/08/ghanaian-author-ayesha-harruna-attah-sells-movie-rights-for-her-rom-com-novel-zainab-takes-new-york/|title=Ghanaian Author Ayesha Harruna Attah Sells Movie Rights for Her Rom-Com Novel Zainab Takes New York|first=Chukwuebuka|last=Ibeh|website=Brittle Paper|date=8 August 2022|access-date=5 July 2023}}

As a 2014 AIR Award laureate, Attah was a writer-in-residence at the Instituto Sacatar in Bahia, Brazil.{{cite web|last1=Koinange|first1=Wanjiru|url=http://www.africacentre.net/introducing-the-2014-artists-in-residency-award-laureates/|website=Africa Centre|title=Introducing the 2014 Artists in Residency Award Laureates|date= 11 September 2014}} She also won a Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship in 2016 for a proposed non-fiction book on the history of the kola nut.{{cite web|url=http://www.milesmorlandfoundation.com/-scholarship-announcements|website=Miles Morland Foundation|title=Morland Writing Scholarships for 2016|date=24 May 2017 }}

Attah was selected by Bernardine Evaristo to be mentored as a protégé, for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative in 2023–2024.{{cite web|url=https://brittlepaper.com/2022/10/bernardine-evaristo-and-ayesha-haruna-attah-named-mentor-and-protege-for-the-2023-24-rolex-arts-programme/|title=Bernardine Evaristo and Ayesha Harruna Attah Named Mentor and Protégé for the 2023-24 Rolex Arts Program|first=Chukwuebuka|last=Ibeh|website=Brittle Paper|date=17 October 2022|access-date=5 July 2023}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/09/arts/el-anatsui-bernardine-evaristo-rolex-mentor.html|title=Mentors Named for Next Class in Rolex Arts Initiative|newspaper=The New York Times|first= Roslyn|last=Sulcas|date=9 September 2022}}

=''Harmattan Rain'' (2008)=

Harmattan Rain, published in 2008, follows the three-generational story of a Ghanaian family, including Lizzie-Achiaa, Akua Afriyie and Sugri.

Lizzie-Achiaa was the brave matriarch of their family, who ran off looking for her lover and at the same time pursuing a nursing career. Her rebellious daughter, artist Akua Afriye, strikes out on her own as a single parent in a country rocked by successive coups, and Akua Afriye's only daughter Sugri was a lovely, smart girl who grew up too sheltered then leaves home for university in New York, where she learns that sometimes one can have too much freedom.{{Cite web|url=http://ayibamagazine.com/a-review-of-harmattan-rain-by-ayesha-harruna-attah/|first=Darkowaa|last=Adu-Kofi|title=A review of Harmattan Rain, by Ayesha Harruna Attah|work=Ayiba Magazine|date=2 September 2014|language=|access-date=30 June 2016|archive-date=30 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730145338/http://ayibamagazine.com/a-review-of-harmattan-rain-by-ayesha-harruna-attah/|url-status=dead}}

=''Saturday's Shadows'' (2015)=

Set in 1990s West Africa, Saturday's Shadows is about "a family that is struggling to maintain its cohesion in the midst of a tenuous political setting", of which it has been said: "Attah proves once again her proficiency as a writer. She demonstrates her dexterity as a writer with the accuracy and lucidity of her character development."[http://conscientization101.com/book/saturdays-shadows-by-ayesha-harruna-attah/ "Saturday's Shadows by Ayesha Harruna Attah"], Conscientization 101, 3 June 2015.

=''The Hundred Wells of Salaga'' (2019)=

Aminah lives an idyllic life until she is brutally separated from her home and forced on a journey that transforms her from a daydreamer into a resilient woman. Wurche, the willful daughter of a chief, is desperate to play an important role in her father's court. These two women's lives converge as infighting among Wurche's people threatens the region, during the height of the slave trade at the end of the nineteenth century.{{Cite book|last=Harruna.|first=Attah, Ayesha|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1091285955|title=The hundred wells of Salaga, a novel.|date=2019|publisher=Other Press, LLC |isbn=978-1-59051-995-0|oclc=1091285955}}

Through the experiences of Aminah and Wurche, The Hundred Wells of Salaga offers a remarkable view of slavery and how the scramble for Africa affected the lives of everyday people.

=''The Deep Blue Between'' (2020)=

Twin sisters Hassana and Husseina's home is in ruins after a brutal raid. But this is not the end but the beginning of their story, one that will take them to unfamiliar cities and cultures, where they will forge new families, ward off dangers and truly begin to know themselves. As the twins pursue separate paths in Brazil and the Gold Coast of West Africa, they remain connected through shared dreams of water. But will their fates ever draw them back together?

A sweeping adventure with richly evocative historical settings, The Deep Blue Between is a moving story of the bonds that can endure even the most dramatic change.{{Cite book|last=Attah|first=Ayesha Harruna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ayP_DwAAQBAJ|title=The Deep Blue Between|date=15 October 2020|publisher=Pushkin Press|isbn=978-1-78269-267-6|language=en}}

Personal life

Ayesha is the daughter of Alhaji Abdul Rahman Harruna Attah and Nana Yaa Agyeman. She also has a sister called Rahma.{{Cite web |date=2023-08-17 |title=Today in History: Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings loses sister |url=https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Today-in-History-Nana-Konadu-Agyeman-Rawlings-loses-sister-1826567 |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=GhanaWeb |language=en}}

Works

Novels

  • Harmattan Rain. Popenguine, Senegal, West Africa: Per Ankh, 2008. {{ISBN|9782911928123}}, {{OCLC|310739454}}
  • Saturday's Shadows. London: World Editions, 2015. {{ISBN|9789462380431}}, {{OCLC|903399393}}
  • The Hundred Wells of Salaga. New York: Other Press, 2019. {{ISBN|9781590519950}}, {{OCLC|1035458812}}
  • The Deep Blue Between. London: Pushkin Press, 2020. {{ISBN|9781782692669}}

Essays

  • "Skinny Mini", Ugly Duckling Diaries, July 2015{{cite journal|last1=Attah|first1=Ayesha|title=Skinni Mini|journal=Ugly Duckling Diaries|date=July 2015|url=http://uglyducklingdiaries.com/blog/ayesha-harruna-attah|access-date=2016-04-28|archive-date=2020-02-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211051148/http://uglyducklingdiaries.com/blog/ayesha-harruna-attah|url-status=dead}}
  • "The Intruder", The New York Times Magazine, September 2015{{cite journal|last1=Attah|first1=Ayesha|title=The Intruder|journal=The New York Times Magazine|date=September 4, 2015|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/magazine/the-intruder.html}}
  • "Cheikh Anta Diop – An Awakening", Chimurenga, 9 April 2018{{cite journal|url=http://chimurengachronic.co.za/cheikh-anta-diop-an-awakening/?sslid=MzEwMDU2tjQ1MjU0AwA&sseid=MzS1NDc1MDAxMgAA&jobid=1a7ef79b-0155-419c-827e-c0e65ee51c85|title=Cheikh Anta Diop – An Awakening|last=Attah|first=Ayesha Harruna|journal=Chimurenga|date=9 April 2018}}
  • "Opinion: Slow-Cooking History", The New York Times, 10 November 2018{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/10/opinion/sunday/slow-cooking-history.html|title=Opinion: Slow-Cooking History|last=Attah|first=Ayesha Harruna|work=The New York Times|date=10 November 2018}}
  • "Inside Ghana: A Tale of Love, Loss and Slavery", Newsweek, 21 February 2019{{cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/ghana-ayesha-harruna-attah-1335709|title=Inside Ghana: A Tale of Love, Loss and Slavery|last=Attah|first=Ayesha Harruna|work=Newsweek|date=21 February 2019}}

Other writing

  • "Second Home, Plus Yacht", Yachting Magazine, October 2007{{cite journal|last1=Attah|first1=Ayesha|title=Second Home, Plus Yacht|journal=Yachting Magazine|date=3 October 2007|url=http://www.yachtingmagazine.com/second-home-plus-yacht}}
  • "Incident on the way to the Bakoy Market", Asymptote Magazine, 2013{{cite journal|last1=Attah|first1=Ayesha|title=Incident on the way to the Bakoy Market|journal=Asymptote Magazine|date=2013|url=http://www.asymptotejournal.com/special-feature/ayesha-harruna-attah-incident-on-the-way-to-bakoy-market/}}
  • "Unborn Children", in Margaret Busby, New Daughters of Africa, 2019.

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

External links

{{sisterlinks|d=Q24553457|c=Category:Ayesha Harruna Attah|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|s=no|wikt=no|species=no}}

  • [http://www.ayeshaattah.com/ Author's official website]
  • [https://geosireads.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/interview-with-ghanaian-writer-ayesha-harruna-attah/ "Interview with Ghanaian Writer, Ayesha Harruna Attah"], Geosi Reads, 11 March 2013.

  • Ayesha Harruna Attah, [http://uglyducklingdiaries.com/blog/ayesha-harruna-attah "Skinny Mini"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211051148/http://uglyducklingdiaries.com/blog/ayesha-harruna-attah |date=2020-02-11 }}, Ugly Duckling Diaries, July 2015.
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHjCQ_UR9VQ "Meet the Author: Ayesha Harruna Attah"], YouTube: The Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation, 26 August 2021.
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCRNEUTwOWk "New Daughters of Africa Podcast - S01 E04 - Ayesha Harruna Attah"]. Panashe Chigumadzi in conversation with Ayesha Harruna Attah, 21 June 2022.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Attah, Ayesha Harruna}}

Category:1983 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century Ghanaian women writers

Category:21st-century Ghanaian writers

Category:21st-century novelists

Category:Columbia University School of the Arts alumni

Category:Dagomba people

Category:Ghanaian novelists

Category:Ghanaian women novelists

Category:Mount Holyoke College alumni

Category:New York University Graduate School of Arts and Science alumni

Category:New York University Institute of Fine Arts alumni

Category:Writers from Accra