Namina Forna
About Author
Namina Forna was born in Sierra Leone but emigrated with her family to the US in the 1990s, and has been travelling back and forth ever since.
Namina has a MFA in film and TV production from USC School of Cinematic Arts and a BA from Spelman College.
She now works as a screenwriter in LA and loves telling stories with fierce female leads.
The Gilded Ones is her debut novel.
Interview
FEBRUARY 2021
THE GILDED ONES, USBORNE BOOKS
In this epic fantasy inspired by her childhood in West Africa, Namina Forna creates unforgettable characters and a distinctive patriarchal world where young women are branded as 'pure' or 'unpure'.
Here, Namina Forna tells us about her journey to create The Gilded Ones.
1. What has been your route into writing? How has being a screen writer supported you in writing a novel - and are you still working on film?
My route to writing was long and painful.
I decided to be a novelist at 19, and I immediately wrote a couple of books and tried to get them published. The consistent feedback I received was that Black people don't write books, particularly fantasy, and that the industry was not for me. So I decided to go to film school to see if there were any jobs I'd like while trying to get the novelist dream started. While at film school, I fell into screenwriting, which, I regret to tell you, was just as punishing as publishing. Once again, the message was the same: there's no room in this industry for you.
But I persisted, sold a couple of scripts that went nowhere, and just barely scraped by. Then I got my agent Alice and wrote The Gilded Ones. The funny thing is that already being a novelist made me a good screenwriter when I started, and then the screenwriting fed my novel writing. It's a nice little circle. I'm definitely still working in film. I'm currently writing the screenplay for The Gilded Ones movie.
2. Can you tell us what The Gilded Ones is about?
The Gilded Ones is a YA fantasy set in an African-inspired empire where a group of girls have been labeled demons because they bleed gold and are faster and stronger than regular people. When actual demons start invading the kingdom, the girls are given a choice: fight or die.
3. We are only now starting to see strong Black characters in fantasy. Was the absence of Black lead YA characters one of the things that has inspired your debut novel?
Definitely. When you grow up never seeing yourself in the world around you, there's this hunger to be seen, to be acknowledged. Growing up, it felt like Black people were the unwanted stepchild in scifi/fantasy, and in real life, for that matter.
Every time we showed up somewhere, people got pissed. Look at Rue in The Hunger Games. Here she was, this sweet child, but people were angry because somehow, Black children could not be innocent. I wanted to change this perception. I wanted to make sure that Black people were seen, acknowledged, that we could exist not only as the sidekicks but the heroes too. I think it's the same for most Black creatives. We're tired of being unwanted.
4. Are you a fantasy reader; was your first book always going to be a fantasy novel?
I am a fantasy everything. Fantasy forever and always. I don't really enjoy much anything else.
5. You grew up in Sierra Leone; are there any traditions from West Africa that you've brought into your book?
The masks. There's a reason why people wear masks in my world. Sierra Leonean culture is mask culture. For every event, people wear masks to commune with or acknowledge the sacred. I took that idea and twisted it.
6. Have you drawn on West African settings for the story?
Very much so. The capital city of Hemaira is based on Freetown, the city I grew up in, hence the waterfalls and all the hills. The walls of Hemaira are based on the walls of Benin, which were once four times the size of the Great Wall of China, but were destroyed by the British, along with most of the city.
7. How did your lead character, Deka, develop?
When I was in undergrad, I'd have dreams of a girl in golden armor walking slow motion into a battlefield. I didn't realize it then, but that girl was Deka. Initially, I thought of her as a Buffy-like figure, tough and strong. But then I realized that was a caricature, because if she truly grew up in the empire of Otera, which is crushing in its patriarchy, she'd be quiet and obedient. Once I realized this, I got a handle on who Deka really was.
8. Through her experiences, Deka has to learn her true worth not just as an Alaki but as a young, Black woman. Have you drawn on some of your own experiences in writing her?
Definitely. When you grow up as a Black person in a white culture, you are alternately vilified or dismissed, or both. There's a struggle to determine who you are, against the depictions that are created of people like you in the media, and also how you're treated by the dominant culture at large. That's why I took Deka on a journey from a majority white space to a space that, while it's just as dangerous, or even more so, is affirming to Deka's sense of self and identity.
9. The Gilded Ones is an epic read, how long has it taken you to write?
Years. A month and a half. The answer differs.
I initially wrote TGO in 2012, but it went nowhere. People told me no one would buy a book with a Black main character, so I put it to the side. Then came 2018. When I saw the reception Black Panther was getting, I knew the time was right. I threw out the book I had and completely rewrote it from scratch in a month and a half.
So, again, the answer depends.
10. What are your plans for book 2 - can you give us a glimpse into 'what next' for Deka and the other Alakis?
Yes, there's definitely more adventures, more of Deka and her friends. And we learn more about the history of the world. What's more, we delve deeper into the feminist aspect. Is a female-led world truly a safer one? Find out in book 2.
11. Where and when are your favourite times and places to write? And what is most likely to interrupt you?
It's funny, I write my best work at 4am and my fastest work at 4pm. I'm typically interrupted by hunger. I forgot to eat when I write.
12. What do you do to escape your desk?
Funny story, I write in bed. I have a desk, I've just never used it. I just wake up, turn on my bedside lamp and start writing. I love to go to the beach when I'm not writing.
13. The YA community is very supportive. Are there any other stand-out YA novels you'd like to recommend to ReadingZone readers?
Late this year, look out for Witches Steeped in Gold, Ace of Spades, Like Home, and Blood Like Magic. Right now, check out All the Tides of Fate, Raybearer, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, Gravemaidens, The Black Kids, Break the Fall and This is My America.
The Merciless Ones
The Gilded Ones
