CATEGORY
POETIC JUSTICE Abi Daré’s New York Times bestselling debut novel The Girl with the Louding Voice started with an innocent protest from her 8-year-old daughter. Abi says simply, “I asked her to help unload the dishwasher, and she didn’t want to.” From this mundane moment there sprung a conversation about privilege, and the fact that none of us choose the conditions we are born into. Abi pointed out to her daughter that some girls in Nigeria, where Abi was born, are sent away by their parents to become housemaids. “It became a huge conversation,” Abi continues. “She asked, ‘Why would anyone send their child away to be a housemaid? Would you send me away?’ I went to bed with a lot of questions, because it really was valid for her to ask why anyone would do this.”
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LIFE MAGAZINE
SUMMER 2021