Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A Zanzibari-born British author and Nobel-winning novelist, also a Booker Prize nominee and emeritus professor of postcolonial literatures.
On the island
Eight records
I can see myself walking through the streets there and listening to this and bobbing my head up and down.
Petit FleurFavourite
I heard this for the first time... I was drawn to it because I thought, Bechet, that sounds like a Swahili name.
He's singing to his lover. And clearly he's dying. And he's saying, fan me as well, make me comfortable.
Piano Concerto in A minor, first movement
It just gives me so much pleasure to see how well they're doing and how beautifully they play.
Every time I listen to this opening, I remember that family and that Christmas.
It's like an orchestra. It's only one instrument. And only one man.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:11How does it feel to you when a new book is about to come out?
It gets increasingly less worrying. I think partly it's because as each book comes out you come to understand that you have readers who are kind of travelling with you in a way, you know, but in addition to that, there are always reviews and things like that, so you begin to have a sense of how the book is being received. Feels good.
Presenter asks
2:51What actually happened when you found out about the Nobel Prize? How did you hear?
I was at home, almost lunchtime, and I was just sort of making a cup of tea... And the phone rang, and at first I thought it was one of these annoying cold calls... And eventually somebody spoke and said, is this Abdurasa Gourna? and I said, who are you? What do you want? Kind of thing. Trying to be rude to chase this person away. Then he announced that you have been awarded this. And I thought, no, no, come on. Stop it.
Presenter asks
4:36What was it like to see the Swahili versions of your books for the first time?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was it's great, it's wonderful, obviously... the Swahili translation was also something special, because although people were reading the books, not everybody can read in English. So this way it makes it available and importantly, it makes it available as a book that younger people can read at school and this kind of thing.
The keepsakes
The book
That Glimpse of Truth: 100 of the Best Short Stories Ever Written
David Miller
A long book isn't going to do the job if you're there on your own. A little short story would do.
The luxury
I hate nails that grow long. So I would hate to be on this desert island without a nail clipper.
Presenter asks
9:00Tell me about your mother, Salma. What was she like?
She uh had six of us and uh I think quite possibly it uh it was uh difficult... But she was all right, she was okay. She and my aunt, her sister that is, were both um valued very much the possibility of education for us, partly because they were not allowed to go to school.
Presenter asks
18:39In 1964, Zanzibar underwent a revolution. You were fifteen. What effect did that have on you and your family?
Well, the main effect was my father's business... it was taken away from him. No private businesses were allowed to exist... but more importantly, almost everything else was also shut down. Businesses, jobs, there was a great deal of violence. Schools were shut. It was a state of terror, really. People imprisoned, people killed, and so on.
Presenter asks
24:00When you were eighteen you and your older brother made the choice to leave Zanzibar and come to Britain. How did you decide it was the right time to go, and how difficult was it to organize?
Yeah, it was difficult to organize because the it was not possible to have uh travel documents... it meant that we had to leave in rather, well, really rather illegal ways, which I'll leave at that. But the reason we chose to do it then was partly because we had finally persuaded our father that it's okay for us to do that and that he was willing to help us.
“I can see myself walking through the streets there and listening to this and bobbing my head up and down.”
“We could actually take it out, but you didn't have a record player at home, so that wasn't any good.”
“What have I done?”
“I had no idea that there is this sort of a we don't want you here kind of thing.”
“That was scary, but when I caught sight of my sisters and my aunt, my mother was actually not there, 'cause I'd kept it quiet until the last minute before announcing that I was coming back.”
“Yeah, pretty much like that, with a bit of shade though. Not uh so maybe trees growing pretty near the beach so you can lie in the shade and watch the sea pounding itself or pounding the land.”