Ike Anya speaks with Sefi Atta on her recently published first book - Everything Good Will Come

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Congratulations on Everything Good Will Come. I thoroughly enjoyed it - it was so evocative of my memories of growing up in Lagos - the Ikoyi waterfront, the sights and smells of Sandgrouse Market, the Owambe parties. I am particularly excited that the stories of my generation of Nigerians are being told, in your work and that of Chimamanda Adichie, Helon Habila, Ike Oguine and Chris Abani. Was recording this slice of existence a conscious consideration for you? I suppose in a roundabout way I'm asking - Why did you write Everything Good Will Come?

Thanks very much. Compulsion is the answer to your question. It began with an image of the Lagos lagoon, a wooden fence and these two girls, Enitan and Sheri, on either side. I had a strong sense of their spirits and nothing else, but I couldn't get the image out of my mind. Then I had to turn it into a story, moving to the next image and then the next. I consciously did not hold back as I wrote and ended up with this very personal chronicle of post-independent Nigeria.

Following on from that, I would have to ask, why write at all? You are a qualified accountant, that is not a profession usually associated with such "ethereal" practices as writing. How did you make that journey from the "dry" world of balances and figures and ledgers to this wispy writing business?

My stories begin with daydreams. As an accountant, I often daydreamed because my work was so dry. I became a functioning daydreamer. No joke, because my mind has to wander and play in order to create and it is hard to justify sitting around looking like I'm doing absolutely nothing. These days, I can actually carry on conversations and daydream at the same time. Also, being an auditor is like being part nosy parker and part tell tale tit. That basically summarizes my writing life. I know there is an accounting principle or something called the true and fair view, but it would be bordering on pretentious to say that is what I'm trying to achieve when I write. I'm not sure what I would be writing about if I didn't have a regular job for years. I took my first writing class while I was working as an accountant in New York. I always say I drifted into the class, but I may have been looking for a creative outlet. I'd just sat my professional exams after moving to America and having a baby. Anyway, I couldn't stop writing after that and it made sense because I'd always been fascinated by creative people, in awe of them. Sometimes, I'm an obsequious mess when I meet artists I admire. Some of my childhood memories are ethereal because of my association with artists. My mother's sister Shade Thomas was a fashion designer. I still remember the smell of her boutique and her gold embroidered caftans, and I would get so excited whenever we visited Ben Enwonwu at his house by the Lagos lagoon with all his paintings and sculptors. He was my parents' friend and to me he was like a great genie, with his beard and his laugh. I also remember going with my mother to a studio where Buraimoh worked and he had all these colorful beaded mosaics. The place was a magical grotto. I pay tribute to these childhood memories in the novel.

I love the title of your book "Everything Good Will Come" I'm aware that was not your original title. How did you come by this gem of a title? I know, it's derived from the book, but what made you pick that particular phrase, laden as it is with affirmation, which somehow feels very Nigerian.

The title was my editor's idea. It comes from a phrase in the novel. Perhaps it sounds Nigerian because our names translate to phrases. Who knows? It feels a little foreign on my tongue: Everything Good Will Come? It had better bring me good fortune.

Everything Good Will Come tells an intriguing story, of two Nigerian girls and their growing up and the different choices that they make, or that are thrust upon them. In the course of the book, you highlight some of the contradictions inherent in contemporary Nigerian society, for instance with morality and sexuality - Sheri for all her traditionalism is basically a kept woman, and then you have the men - pillars of society (and its institutions) with their mistresses and infidelities and half-hidden second families -which some would argue are still symptoms of a society caught between two cultures. Would you agree?

I think we choose to live between two cultures, traditional and western, and people get caught in the conflicts that arise. I also think that what we call traditionalism is really just patriarchy. This is not to suggest that western cultures are more progressive. Here in Mississippi where I live, conservatism is another name for patriarchy, perhaps because it's harder to defend patriarchy. I would say my novel is narrated by a modern Nigerian woman who is in conflict with her patriarchal culture. She is an intimate narrator though, almost as if she is taking your hand and saying, Come and see.