Aminatta Forna
(United Kingdom, 1964) focuses in her work on how horrors of war are remembered. Forna spent a part of her childhood in Sierra Leone where her father, a politician, was falsely accused of treason and hanged. These events were the subject of her memoir The Devil that Danced on the Water (2003). Before her debut as a writer, Aminatta Forna worked as a reporter and documentary filmmaker with the BBC, where she wrote and directed several notable documentaries about African history and culture. In her novel Ancestor Stones (2006) four elderly Sierra Leonian aunts tell stories of the past to their niece. And in the novel The Memory of Love (2010) a British psychologist in Freetown attempts to penetrate a collective silence about the past. In The Hired Man (2013) Forna brilliantly paints lingering tensions in one village in postwar Croatia. In Happiness (2018), a Ghanaian psychiatrist visiting London offers a view of Europe through African eyes.
Past events
Book of My Life by Aminatta Forna
About Anils Ghost by Michael Ondaatje.
Where to Belong
International authors Aminatta Forna, Tash Aw and Alejandra Ortiz presented new stories and engaged in conversation with Shantie Singh
Body Language
Physicality in the work of bestselling authors Celeste Ng (USA) and Aminatta Forna (UK)
Talking to the writer: Aminatta Forna and Noreena Hertz
Join the regulars' table. Francis Broekhuijsen welcomes the writers. Meet, greet, and have your books signed. In English.
The Text of my Life: Aminatta Forna
Which texts from world literature has she cherished as long as she lives? Arjan Peters and Tanja Jadnanansing host. In English.
The Turning Point
Architect Andries Samuel, documentary maker and BBC reporter Aminatta Forna and building engineer Nihad Sirees decided to turn to fiction at a certain point in their lives. Mathijs Deen wants to know why. In English.
Like me. Please like me. Opening Lecture by Amin Maalouf
Guest of honour Amin Maalouf ponders the deeper layers and consequences of a simple request: Like me. The lecture is followed by a debate with Aminatta Forna, Fouad Laroui and Andrés Neuman chaired by Sheila Sitalsing. In English.
