Bola Rahman began writing to hold onto memories that she hoped to share later, with her favourite uncle. Today the Nigerian-born, Calgary-based author has self-published her first book Finding Home, with all of the proceeds supporting the upcoming Lagos Christmas Drive. I chatted with @beingbola about her new book, advice for budding writers and plans for the future.
J: Congratulations on your first published book! Take us on your writing journey.
B: I was very close to my uncle as a child. We spoke often and in between our visits, I would write all of the things I planned to tell him the next time. News stories also interested me. I would write news snippets to summarize what I was hearing. One story sticks out to me; I was about 10 years old when I saw a news story of a small boat found off the coast, that was used to transport enslaved people during the transatlantic slave trade. That news story inspired me to write a story based on a boy who lived in that universe, was transported to the Americas shortly before The Civil War that ultimately led to emancipation. He eventually returns to his home, Nigeria, but finds himself internally conflicted as he is neither Nigerian nor American. I’ve always been a storyteller.
Finding Home centres around the main character Eddy whose father insists he sells his land to send her to boarding school, which leads to trouble among her father and his siblings. She went from a two-parent household and a plan to head to boarding school in Lagos, to a fatherless child, who witnessed her father’s demise over a family dispute and no longer sees a bright future. Who inspired the character Eddy, and why did you want to tell her story?
B: Eddy’s story was inspired by two things. First, it is commonplace in Nigeria to have a “houseboy” or “housegirl” who is often similar in age to the children of the household. Eddy’s story forces us to ask why this child labour is normalized in our culture. Second, I once overheard some students at my university jesting and joking about people in servitude. The jokes dehumanized these people and perpetuated stereotypes about which cultures were better suited for servitude. Eddy’s story humanizes this experience by exploring her dreams, goals and shows her as a dynamic persona -- which we all are.
J: Proceeds of the book are being donated to the Lagos Christmas Drive, tell me why you started this initiative and why you feel it is important.
B: The cost of living is skyrocketing, everywhere. Especially in 2020, with the economic hit of the pandemic and the trauma of the #ENDSARS movement, Nigerians at home and abroad were not joyful. So I asked myself, “What would be helpful?”. Of course, I can’t solve poverty. This is not a dollar-a-day kind of initiative, but I wanted to do something to help. Last year the Lagos Christmas Drive helped 300 families in one community and that just scratched the surface. This year, I want to impact more families.
J: Do you have advice for writers who are considering self-publishing? What tools or methods would you recommend?
Keep writing and reading things that challenge you. Read things that stress you, that make you sit on the floor or take to the road to think about what you just read. I’m listening to an audiobook right now and I know it is going to stress me out but, it is encouraging to tell myself, “Hey, I can weave a story like this!”.
Connect with other writers. I met my writing tribe in 2017 and it made me better. They challenge me and give me a sense of community.
Self-publishing works for me because I knew I wanted to donate 100% of the proceeds to the Lagos Christmas Drive; the publishers I spoke with wouldn’t have allowed me to do that. Do what would bring you peace to be able to say, “I represented myself to the best of my ability.”.
Expect a journey and welcome it as growth. It is okay to start over, change directions and not know all the answers. We are all trying to figure things out, just put marks in the road to measure yourself by your own standards.
J: Can we expect more books from you in the future?
B: YES! Speaking of challenging yourself, I want my next book to be science fiction or thriller. I am also considering turning one of my television pitches into a series [of novels], then maybe a TV show. I am also writing for two TV series, coming to a network near you.
J: WOW, we love that for you! Good thing we got this interview before you got too famous for us!
B: Never! I want to remain approachable and down-to-earth forever, but 2021 is that year for me.
An Excerpt from Finding Home, Chapter One: They Won
... I watched Mama and recalled the events of the past eight months. My uncles had forged Papa’s signature sold off the land and reportedly raked in millions in cash. Papa nearly ran mad when he found out what happened. He had no money to hire a lawyer, so he took the case before the elders of the clan. Unfortunately for Papa, in war the most cunning and ruthlessness reigned supreme - they won. His case with the elders went nowhere as my uncles had stuffed the elders’ mouths shut with cash. I remembered Papa staggering in like a drunk and refusing his dinner after attending the last of the futile meetings. He brooded for a long time in the sitting room, occasionally shaking his head and muttering until I slept off on my mat.
Papa was not the same again after the incident. He switched between moments of violent anger and deep simmering sadness. I overheard him one day telling Mama he was determined to slaughter his two brothers. “The worst that will happen is that I’ll be hanged,” he muttered. “I can’t bear this anymore, death is better than this life,” Papa lamented. She tried to console him in between her sobs and curses against the uncles. “Akpan and Bassey won’t go free, God must punish them,” she said with enough venom and authority to convince Papa to drop his murder plans.
Months later, news got to us that my uncles had built multiple exquisite houses, bought the latest cars and had become the toast of every party in town. Following the news, Papa had gone to see the vulgar display of wealth for himself. If losing the land to his brothers had made him mad, seeing his brothers living off it destabilized his psyche. It wasn’t long before the mental illness began to eat at him physically. The battle with his brothers had left us with no money to take him to the hospital. The school had sent several letters, the final one stating that my scholarship and enrolment to the school had been cancelled. I hung around him, trying to offer consolation, but it didn’t work. My presence at home instead of the boarding school in
Lagos was a reminder that he had failed woefully. Mama was so annoyed by the pressure he was putting on himself instead of taking care of his health, that she made it a personal mission to remove anything related to school from purview. The most painful one was the conversion of my uniform to dusting rags or extra material for patching things up. Even with that, Papa refused to budge on his battle with his brothers.
I stood in the corner, struggling with a cacophony of emotions. The last conversation I had with Papa replayed in my head...
Learn more about Bola Rahman at https://beingbola.com/ and order your copy of Finding Home https://home.beingbola.com/#pre-order-form