This interview was originally conducted for the pages of Fashion Quarterly
In this book we meet Annie, Sithara, and Josephina. What was it like to live in the minds of three different women spanning generations, over decades, and across continents while writing the novel?
It felt natural! I think perhaps that we are always living in the minds of our ancestors, and that they are living in us too. The women in this book have lives that are close to the women who raised me. I felt closer to them and closer to myself in writing it.
Amma took you four years to write, how does it feel for it now to be in the hands of readers?
Amma took you four years to write, how does it feel for it now to be in the hands of readers?
Initially surreal. And now it feels like a blessing and a gift.
A horrific event happens to Josephina as a little girl. This trauma continues to ripple through the family as time goes on. What led you to speak on generational trauma, and why is it important for readers to understand?
A horrific event happens to Josephina as a little girl. This trauma continues to ripple through the family as time goes on. What led you to speak on generational trauma, and why is it important for readers to understand?
Readers do understand generational trauma, intimately, so it's important for me to render it with precision. I think a lot about what legacies of harm do, not just to the people who suffer it but to those who inflict it. James Baldwin said "People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them" - and that's it, isn't it? We talk a lot about what generational trauma does to people, about the ways it repeats. We talk about this in relation to people of colour. I don't think we talk so much about the ways that inflicting that kind of harm over generations is also locked in the bodies and brains of white people. That's an ugly legacy that needs to be examined. Because when it is ignored it proliferates and repeats itself. We're all seeing this come to bear as we watch the global resistance learn from and respond to the Palestinian resistance, and work to tear down Zionism/white supremacy. We're seeing institutions and people in positions of power defend their "right" to support what is plainly a genocide. When I wrote about generational trauma I was also writing about the moments when people decide that they're over it. They've had enough pain, enough grief, enough of being powerless, and they're fighting back.
You won the prestigious Crystal Arts Trust Prize in 2021. How did winning this prize help you to bring Amma to life?
You won the prestigious Crystal Arts Trust Prize in 2021. How did winning this prize help you to bring Amma to life?
Winning that prize was unbelievably precious. In the midst of a cost of living crisis, and some serious career and life uncertainty, that money gave me extra months to work on my book. And, more than that, it gave me confidence that the book was worth being worked on. I'm so grateful to Rosetta and James Allan for creating it.
You have written for screen, for your podcast Conversations with my Immigrant Parents, and in print. How was your experience in writing a fictional novel in comparison?
You have written for screen, for your podcast Conversations with my Immigrant Parents, and in print. How was your experience in writing a fictional novel in comparison?
I love writing fiction, because I love to make things up. I didn't realise how different it would be at first, to be honest. And it scared me. But once I realised that fiction means the space on the page is limitless I became free in a way that no other medium I've worked in has allowed. So, it was liberating.
Your book was published by Moa Press. Could you speak on the importance of local publishers in representing diversity in the industry?
Your book was published by Moa Press. Could you speak on the importance of local publishers in representing diversity in the industry?
Oh we'd be lost without local publishers like Moa Press! And even more broke! And it would all be even more impossible! We have so many brilliant writers here in Aotearoa. We have such a strong legacy of writing in all forms - fiction, poetry, essay - most of which would not exist without local publishers. There are also so many people here who want to read books set in and about their own neighbourhoods. I think that's a beautiful thing and I'm delighted and honoured to be a small part of that. Fiction is an extremely difficult, chronically low-paid, and intensely time-consuming medium to work in. We need all the local support we can get.
Could you share some books that have resonated with you?
Could you share some books that have resonated with you?
Stay True, by Hua Hsu, for its honesty. I seek out books dealing with grief and this is a particularly sad and direct one. Against White Feminism, by Rafia Zakaria, is excellent and useful. If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga was my favourite read of last year. I'm obsessed with How to Loiter in a Turf War by Coco Solid, which is a classic now! And I'm just finishing Nina Mingya Powles' Small Bodies of Water. Nina and I spoke together at London Review Bookshop in April about Amma. I've been a fan of Nina's work for so long now but had never read Small Bodies of Water. It's so tender and personal and well-written.
Who is Amma written for?
Who is Amma written for?
For my Grandmother, Mitzi. For my mum, Karenza. And for my sister, Siena.
