5 minute read
Abi Daré, bestselling author
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.”
The fight for justice is a part of me
Abi is friendly, confident, and warm in conversation. Her voice has a gentle lilt that offers a glimpse of her Nigerian roots.
“It’s important for my children to realise, just as I realised quite young, that you don’t choose to be born into a family that can afford a good education. The fact that you have clean water running out of taps and you can eat whatever you want is not something that everybody can afford. You shouldn’t take it for granted.”
The lack of control we have over our circumstances is a theme running through The Girl with the Louding Voice, which begins with the strong-willed, intelligent, but financially poor 14-yearold protagonist Adunni being told by her father that she is to marry a much older man.
While Abi’s experience was certainly kinder than Adunni’s, having a parent force their will onto their child is something she can relate to. In Abi’s own words, her mother “tricked her” into leaving Nigeria to study Law at the University of Wolverhampton.
“She said that coming to the UK would be a regular summer holiday. It was fun. Then, afterwards, when she had finished packing her belongings, she said, ‘You’re not going back.’ And I was like… what?” Abi’s mother had somehow applied and received an offer letter for the Law degree without Abi realising.
While this was far from a typical start to her student experience, Abi says that studying Law at the University of Wolverhampton helped to discipline her approach to work. This is an invaluable skill as an author, a head of programme development, and a mother.
She says of her time at university, “The research and the coursework we’d get meant that I couldn’t just wake up one morning and hand something in and expect to get a good grade. I literally lived in the library. Studying Law also made me more of a lover of words than I thought I could ever be. But most importantly, I think it developed my love for justice.”
Abi says that a fight against injustice is weaved throughout her fiction, and that the origin of this came from her Law studies.
“The fight for justice is a part of me, and studying at the University of Wolverhampton really helped to bring that to light. I don’t think I would be where I am today without that, so I’m very grateful.”
When she isn’t writing, alongside being a mother, Abi works in pharmaceutical technology and leads a team that she says is full of ‘very smart, intelligent people.’
On writing and her tech role, Abi says, “I enjoy both, so I’m trying hard to juggle writing and my career, but it’s not been easy. At the time when I could step away from my writing, there was a huge need to carry on with my day job considering all that’s going on right now.
Despite her debut novel’s many achievements, Abi didn’t until recently plan to become an author.
“I didn’t think I could become a professional; I didn’t think that I was anything like that. I love to write and tell stories and express myself through writing, but I don’t think it was until maybe 10 years ago that I realised, ‘This could be a thing.’ So I built my career around technology before I started giving my writing a real shot.
“When my book came out, I didn’t expect what happened with it to happen. I didn’t expect it to become a New York Times bestseller and to sell in over 13 territories.”
While The Girl with the Louding Voice continues to gain new fans across the globe and receive deserved acclaim – including winning and being shortlisted for numerous prizes, receiving countless strong reviews, and being one of the books selected for the BBC series Between the Covers – Abi’s proudest moments have been altogether more personal ones.
“I’ve had some readers’ feedback that have really wowed me. I’ve had people say that, after giving up on their education, they read The Girl with the Louding Voice and decided that they’re going to go back to study.”
Additionally, a teacher told her that her book realistically captures the experience of her students, while readers from Nigeria have told her that, because of her novel, they will never look away if their neighbour employs an underage girl to work for them; instead, they will speak out.
Abi is currently working on a new book that will explore the relationships between mothers and daughters, and the culture of silence that many young Nigerian women grow up in, all set against a backdrop of a riot that took place two decades ago. She adds: “Some of the things that have encouraged me to make a change in my life have been pieces of art. I think that storytelling is a powerful way to effect change.”
