Efua Traoré

Efua Traoré is a Nigerian-German story writer. She won the regional Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2018 and was nominated for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize in 2022. Quotes To be child of God is the greatest happiness of all,’ she say in a voice that resembles the voice of Pastor Justice well-well. Papa suddenly appears inside the door and sits down after three months of no-show-face and my happiness just vamoose. She wrote on True happiness. My writing is inspired by a sometimes overpowering sense of adventure, my fascination with myths, legends and superstitions and bouts of sudden nostalgia for the far-away place I grew up. And I am sooo happy I discovered writing. It’s the late-discovered love of my life and I cannot imagine a life without it anymore (I know this sounds dramatic – sorry 🙂). I even seem to be good at it because I have won some quite amazing prizes that have spurred me on. I have found out that writing is not only about sharing your thoughts and ideas with your readers. You also share little bits of your soul with them, bits that you didn’t know existed and which you stumble over while writing. So, to come back to the question, I would say any books or texts on self-discovery would fit this stage of my life. Someone wrote something along the lines of children’s books obviously just being for children. I don’t agree with that. I think every adult should read one children’s book per month. Seriously! Or well, at least once in a while. Being around children, listening to them, reading children’s books helps adults touch back with forgotten parts of themselves. Parts of you that ground you. There is a particular openheartedness, fervour and optimism that kids still have, and this is often reflected in children’s books. In Children of the Quicksands, I thought it would be the plot and the tie-in of Yoruba mythology that would be most interesting for readers. And I did get a lot of positive feedback on that. But I was also surprised at the fascination with my descriptions of village life in Nigeria including customs and traditions; simple things I grew up seeing and just included naturally into my story. I think every adult should read one children’s book per month. Seriously! Or well, at least once in a while. Being around children, listening to them, reading children’s books helps adults touch back with forgotten parts of themselves. As a kid I missed seeing our Nigerian stories in books. 20 years later, when I was looking for books for my kids, I was shocked that the situation had hardly changed. I have found out that my concerns and fears are often in some way related to self-doubt, so I constantly try to work on myself and believing in my work. The concerns have become less in the process. External links Category: living people