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Aminatta Forna

アミナッタ・フォルナ

Aminatta Forna

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1965-12-20 （Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland）
Nationality
British, Sierra Leonean descent
Languages
English
Residence History
Scotland (birth) → Sierra Leone (Freetown and other) → Iran (period) → Thailand (period) → Zambia (period) → England (south-east London) → United States (Georgetown University and related)

Career

Occupations
Author, Academic, Commentator
Active Years
1989-
Affiliations
Bath Spa University (Professor of Creative Writing), Georgetown University Lannan Center (Director / Chair of Poetics), Royal Society of Literature (Fellow), Royal National Theatre (Board member)
Memberships
Royal Society of Literature (Fellow), Royal Literary Fund (advisory committee), Caine Prize for African Writing (advisory committee)
Nominations
Orange Prize for Fiction - The Memory of Love (shortlisted), International Dublin Literary Award - The Memory of Love (shortlisted), European Literature Prize - Happiness (longlisted)

Education

University College London
Law
Degree: LLB
Country: United Kingdom
Studied law

Awards

Samuel Johnson Prize (shortlisted)
2003
Work: The Devil That Danced on the Water (memoir)
Organization: Samuel Johnson Prize organisers
Result: Shortlisted
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award
2007
Work: Ancestor Stones
Category: Debut Fiction
Organization: Hurston/Wright Foundation
Result: Won
LiBeraturpreis
2007
Work: Ancestor Stones
Organization: LiBeraturpreis (Germany)
Result: Won
Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Best Book)
2011
Work: The Memory of Love
Category: Best Book (Africa)
Organization: Commonwealth Foundation
Result: Won
Windham–Campbell Literature Prize
2014
Category: Fiction
Organization: Yale / Windham–Campbell Prizes
Result: Won
Neustadt International Prize for Literature (finalist)
2016
Organization: Neustadt Prizes
Result: Finalist
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
2017
Category: Services to literature
Organization: UK Honours (New Year Honours)
Result: Appointed
RSL Ondaatje Prize (shortlisted)
2019
Work: Happiness
Organization: Royal Society of Literature
Result: Shortlisted
Jhalak Prize (shortlisted)
2019
Work: Happiness
Organization: Jhalak Prize
Result: Shortlisted

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Devil That Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest

2002 Memoir / Non-fiction

A memoir in which Forna investigates her father's arrest and execution while recounting her childhood and family history, exploring political repression in Sierra Leone.

memorypolitical repressionfamily and identitytrauma

Ancestor Stones

2006 Novel

A linked-novel portraying the lives of women in Sierra Leone, addressing war, everyday life and collective memory.

effects of warwomen's livesmemory and inheritance

The Memory of Love

2010 Novel

Set in post-war Sierra Leone, the novel probes lost love, memory and collective healing through intersecting perspectives and timelines.

war and its aftermathmemory and healingprivate narratives vs official histories

The Hired Man

2013 Novel

A novel that excavates traces of past violence and examines how individual choices and memories shape a community.

memoryaftermath of violencemorality and choice

Happiness

2018 Novel

Set in London, the novel follows the chance meeting of two characters and explores love, trauma, migration and belonging.

migration and belongingtraumanature vs civilisation

The Window Seat: Notes from a Life in Motion

2021 Essay collection

A collection of essays mixing travel, life as a writer, personal anecdotes and political reflections — a new genre for Forna.

life in motionpersonal and political reflectionsmemory and storytelling

Bibliography

  • The Devil That Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest (2003)
  • Ancestor Stones (2006)
  • The Memory of Love (2010)
  • The Hired Man (2013)
  • Happiness (2018)
  • The Window Seat: Notes from a Life in Motion (2021)
  • Mother of All Myths (1998)

Adaptations

  • 10x10 Girl Rising (contributor/writer)
  • Documentaries (e.g., The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
polyphonic narrationnon-linear timelinesclear, precise prose
Recurring Motifs
memory and forgettingaftereffects of war and traumacollision of personal and official historiesmigration and belonging

Legacy

Aminatta Forna is internationally recognized for linking Sierra Leone's history with personal memory in her work. She is active in academia and the public sphere and is known for championing diverse emerging writers.

Academic Societies

  • Royal Society of Literature

In Popular Culture

  • Contribution to Girl Rising (film)

Quotes

  • "It was as though this terrible knowledge, of the lies and the manipulation, the greed and the corruption, the fear and violence had been with me for ever."
    Source: The Guardian (interview, 2002) (2002)

Trivia

  • Founded the Rogbonko Village Project to support a school in Sierra Leone.
  • Her father's political arrest and execution deeply influenced her writing.
  • Won the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize (Fiction) in 2014.
  • Appointed OBE in 2017 for services to literature.
  • Lived for periods in Iran, Thailand and Zambia as a child.