"I feel that when I'm writing a story, I'm there with these people. I enjoy being with them, hearing their voices, and being in their company. Even if the characters are not nice or, or people say that they don't like that character, I actually love them, even though they have these flaws because I'm spending time with them. I haven't really tried to write about a person who I don't want to be with. There's always a feeling that I want to be with these people" — Leila Aboulela

Leila Aboulela speaks with deep intention, imagery coming across as clear as it does from the pages of her works to readers as they delve into the lives of the characters of Aboulela’s literary repertoire. When asked about her childhood in Khartoum, Aboulela speaks nostalgically and lovingly. She most cherishes, “the physicality of being outdoors all the time. We spent so much of our time outdoors. There were times when we would pull the beds out and sleep outdoors. And we had to be sure to wake up really early, because if the sun didn’t get you, the flies would and the birds would wake you otherwise. Walking barefoot on the mud, playing with water from the hose, these memories stay with me, the very physical atmosphere of it all.” 

It was during these years, between the Khartoum American and Sisters’ Schools and summer trips to Cairo, that Aboulela’s love for literature grew. A mosaic of writers across borders and identities, as well as radio plays inspired the award-winning writer's childhood and adolescence and fuelled her avid love of reading. “The early books were American children’s books like Little House on the Prairie and Harriet the Spy,” she says. “When I started to write, I read and re-read Buchi Emecheta, especially Second Class Citizen, and Jean Rhys, and very much got into British immigrant literature.” 

Having lived in Khartoum continuously until the late 1980s, Aboulela used writing to cope with both homesickness and explore issues and experiences of a newly emerging Sudanese diaspora in Scotland and across the United Kingdom.

“I hadn't written before. I just read for fun because I enjoyed reading. I never thought I would write as I didn't have, I think, anything urgently that I wanted to say when I was growing up in Sudan. But when I migrated, I suddenly had a lot that I wanted to express and it was what people don't talk about in ordinary day-to-day conversations with other immigrants. When they get together, they tend to just pretend they're not here. They want to pretend they're back home. And they start going through denial. They push the world and the host country away. ‘Just for a couple of hours, let's just pretend we're back home.’ And so we don't really share our anxieties; there isn't time to reflect philosophically. Of course, most people are struggling. Most people are trying to survive in this often hostile environment. They have issues with language. They have issues with their jobs. They're doing jobs that they don't want to do, perhaps. They want reaffirming that they've done the right thing and that all the sacrifice is going to be worth it in the end. And they don't want someone like me saying to them, ‘Well, okay. You've made a sacrifice but your children are not going to be Sudanese’ or ‘Your children are not going to want to go back.’ They don't want to hear this and I felt constrained by that and put everything onto the fiction. That was a space where I could explore these issues,” Aboulela explains.

Aboulela’s literary explorations of her countries, community, and faith began reaching readers in 1999 with the publication of The Translator, her debut novel which focuses on the relationship between a young Muslim Sudanese widow living in Scotland and a secular Scottish scholar. The following year, Aboulela won the inaugural Caine Prize for African Literature for The Museum. “My luckiest story,” she says. Exploring themes of homesickness, alienation, and relationships shaped by colonial pasts, The Museum follows the short-lived relationship between Shadia, a Sudanese student at the University of Aberdeen, and Bryan, a Scot infatuated with Shadia’s otherness.  When asked if she ever thinks of and revisits Shadia and Bryan, Aboulela responds, “Oh yes, especially now that the time has passed, I always think, what are they doing now? What are they thinking now about, about all this?” 

Aboulela is currently working on a trilogy based on Sudan's history and its relationship with Scotland. She says, “I finished the draft of the first novel. It's set in the 19th century, during the events leading up to the British invasion of Sudan. The second novel will be set during the British colonial period in Sudan and the third novel will be set around independence.” 

Researching and writing the trilogy keeps her curious, going deeper and exploring the history of Sudan. “It’s really fascinating for me,” she says. She is also inspired by the use of digital media to connect readers across borders. She recommends Books and Rhymes for all lovers of African literature, imploring us to explore the “wealth of African literary ancestry.” 

Leila Aboulela will be appearing in AMAKA Books on Facebook Live on Thursday, July 29th, 6PM GMT, 7PM BST, 8PM CET. Don't miss it!