Sola Osofisan
07-20-2007, 02:41 PM
I understand you first saw the hardback edition of 'Half of a Yellow Sun' at the Edinburgh Book Festival in 2006?
I enjoyed myself at the festival. But Edinburgh was less about the event than about seeing this book for the first time. I was almost in tears. All those weeks and months when I didn't sleep, here was the result. It was really an emotional moment.
Was it different from how you felt at the publication of your debut novel, Purple Hibiscus?
I really did not question Purple Hibiscus, but you might say I questioned Half of a Yellow Sun. I knew how much work I had put into Purple Hibiscus, how difficult it had been to get an agent even. So it was remarkable in that sense. I still look at the very first edition that came out with a special feeling. That said, I didn't really have any expectations. Remember, that when the book was published I was prepared to be ignored. And so I am proud and grateful for all that happened with that novel. I love Purple Hibiscus; it’s a book I would write again.
MORE (http://www.bbc.co.uk/africabeyond/africanarts/18942.shtml)
I enjoyed myself at the festival. But Edinburgh was less about the event than about seeing this book for the first time. I was almost in tears. All those weeks and months when I didn't sleep, here was the result. It was really an emotional moment.
Was it different from how you felt at the publication of your debut novel, Purple Hibiscus?
I really did not question Purple Hibiscus, but you might say I questioned Half of a Yellow Sun. I knew how much work I had put into Purple Hibiscus, how difficult it had been to get an agent even. So it was remarkable in that sense. I still look at the very first edition that came out with a special feeling. That said, I didn't really have any expectations. Remember, that when the book was published I was prepared to be ignored. And so I am proud and grateful for all that happened with that novel. I love Purple Hibiscus; it’s a book I would write again.
MORE (http://www.bbc.co.uk/africabeyond/africanarts/18942.shtml)