I am a single parent (widowed) with an adult daughter Natasha, in her mid-20s. My daughter is mixed-race and together we share a cross-generational and multicultural mix of Irish, English and African tastes in fashion, food & music. I know my way about the kitchen quite well and I love that my daughter loves my cooking especially my very English Sunday roast, multi-cultural breakfast spreads, and palatable Ghanaian dishes. She was in Bucharest last week and sent me a WhatsApp message saying "Dad I just miss your cooking" and it made me very happy. Saga, the chief protagonist in my book - 'The Day Of The Orphan' – also loves his food. Maybe this is where he gets it from? Indeed, I have always held the theory that those who love food, love life.
Dr Nat Tanoh
My Ghana family background boasts of notable women’s rights promoters. After working for BBC Africa in London my Mum went to work for Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) where she founded GBC Ladies Association in the 1970s to promote the welfare and well-being of women in the workplace. My late Auntie was also a notable playwright of international repute and was the first female director of the National Theatre in Ghana at a time when there were no female directors of anything at all in Ghana. Zara, a leading protagonist in my novel, is very calm but very strong. Saga's Mum is also strong albeit less calm. Did I develop these strong female characters subconsciously as a reflection of my environment in my formative years? Well, that could very well be the case. What do you think?
I am an avid supporter of the #Me Too movement. I believe it represents the height of bravery and public-spiritedness. Can anyone imagine the courage it takes for someone to mount a platform to reveal to all and sundry, the abjectly humiliating, unspeakable treatment and acts they have been subjected to? It takes inordinate amounts of courage in any given circumstance let alone in public. And I say public-spiritedness because it gives strength to the countless, faceless, voiceless victims out there to come forth and help put a stop to such terrifyingly unkind acts that many are forced to endure. We cannot say we are lovers of freedom and then turn around and deny people one of their most fundamental rights which is the freedom of choice; the freedom to say no; the freedom not to be coerced in any possible way that prevents you from having that crucial choice to say yes or no. To honour these brave souls, my next novel, which will be finished soon, features a predominantly female leadership ruling what's left of the world and calling the shots in an effort to establish a blissful, egalitarian, happy world in which there will be no need for #MeToo.
Maya Angelou was a close friend of my family members as she lived and worked in Ghana in 1960s. I actually met her a few times at family gatherings much later in the 1980s when she came to visit. She was simply brilliant. Did listening to her awaken something latent in me to write one day?
And guess what! I just found out last week that I was probably in the same school at the same time as Hugh Grant. Wow. I was watching a movie of his last week when something said to look him up on Wikipedia. It was then that I found out that he went to Hogarth Primary in Chiswick, London about the same time that I was there. Imagine that! I can't say I remember him, though. But I do remember a few of my classmates from that time. I was then in exile as a child with my family running away from political backlash. My parent's opposition to a dictatorial one-party state meant we literally had to flee for our dear lives. The baddies in my novel 'The Day Of The Orphan' are supporters of a one-party state dictator. Little wonder that I don't have too much love for them.
I wrote my book on an old BlackBerry Classic Mobile Phone. I am writing my new novel on it as well. Apart from my imagination and research it is the most important tool in my writing arsenal. And my BlackBerry is now on the blink which is causing tremendous grief! The t, i, d, and y buttons just won't work. But thank heavens for Amazon. Though that particular phone is no longer in production - our Amazon friends have a few on offer. Hmm, relief! Better snap one up ASAP before they vanish. When my talented and renowned Publicist Helen Lewis suggested I take a picture of myself sitting behind a desk in my writing pose - how could I tell her it would be a 'fake' representation as I hardly ever sit behind a desk to write? To keep it 'unfake' would suggest I take a picture brandishing a BlackBerry…but that posed its own difficulties as some might think I was on a one-man crusade to advertise for BlackBerry instead of trying to publicise my novel!
The best writing position for me is when I am lying down. For some weird reason my imagination is most active then and the story flows better. Sometimes sitting on the sofa does the trick too. But hardly ever behind a desk. I wonder why. So again that's another reason why I couldn't give the wonderful Ms. Helen Lewis the 'fake' pictorial representation of me cozily sitting behind a desk. And yet again I could not exactly give her a wholly unfake picture of me in bed for the publicity. Many might have thought my genre is not quite literary fiction. Can't have that.
I think Brexit is an uncool move. It's a move which is fundamentally based on fear. It was the result of fear mongering by a section of the leadership that were quite disingenuous by not giving the British public all of the facts. What's the point of isolation in an increasingly inter-dependent world? Like it or not Britain is a part of Europe and a very important part at that. Strength lies in unity, politically and economically. It's always the case. Look at Germany. Their unity started with a Customs Union. Apart from Prussia, what is now Germany was an ineffectual collection of petty principalities and minor kingdoms. That's how they were so easily overrun and gobbled up by Napoleon of France. But ever since they came together in unity they became considerably stronger and have since prospered greatly. Look at the United States. Starting out with 13 independent colonies they became united and have since grown to become the most powerful and richest country in the world. Some may say this is a simplistic view but maybe it's not. The chaos and uncertainty and even more fear involved in governmental attempts to extricate from Europe tells a story.
I am of the profound belief that happiness ought to be the most important purpose of our lives. I believe that happiness is our Heritage. It is an inalienable (undeniable) right that each of us has or ought to have. Its absence in a person’s life is an intolerable, menacing contradiction that must be corrected. Millions of people the world over recognise this and spend entire lifetimes trying to correct this supremely unhealthy absence of happiness in their lives but sadly enough, not always with great success. But why must it be so? Why must we so unnecessarily endure lives of uncertainty, unhappiness and unworthiness? WHY? A Heritage is a legacy. It is an inheritance. It is thus rightful ownership. So, when I say that happiness is our Heritage - I mean it is an entitlement of all human beings. Unfortunately, there is not enough of it going around. It is as though most of us have been disinherited; as though we are being denied or are denying ourselves a critical component of the things that we need to live full and purposeful lives. One of the greatest Philosophers that ever lived stated categorically without hesitation that: "HAPPINESS IS THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF LIFE, THE WHOLE AIM AND END OF HUMAN EXISTENCE". This quote is from Aristotle himself. Now are any of us unwise enough to dispute this timeless and most truthful assertion of his? I don't think so! Let’s then always bear in mind that probably the most influential Philosopher in history - to whom the world owes so much - advocates completely that the ultimate in life, what we must strive for, is HAPPINESS! I wish all readers happiness always. Zara in my novel strives for happiness. She is propelled by the pursuit of happiness to take huge risks for a noble cause. Let us salute her. Maybe I should start a blog on happiness being our heritage?
I believe that Prince Harry's marriage to Meghan Markle is a significant occurrence in British history. I believe it's a good thing. For probably the most enduring monarchy on earth comprising the bluest of royal blue Caucasian bloods to embrace a woman of black descent into their midst as family, is profound. For the Queen of England to have a black mixed-race person as a granddaughter-in-law suggests that people should probably not be in too much of a hurry to confine the famous British Monarchy into the dustbin of history. By this gesture alone the Monarchy is proving itself to be modern, relevant and all-embracing in a way that will positively reverberate over time. Prince Harry himself has proved to be a brilliant, likeable chap who could be said to be spearheading, in his own way, this positive monarchical drive into modernity. I wish them happiness forever.
