Intimate Conversation with Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond  has written for AOL, The Village Voice, Metro and Trace. Her short story "Bush Girl" was published in the May 2008 issue of African Writing and her poem, "The Whinings of a Seven Sister Cum Laude Graduate Working Bored as an Assistant," was published in 2006's Growing up Girl Anthology.   A graduate of Vassar College, she attended secondary school in Ghana. Her first novel Powder Necklace is loosely inspired by the experience. 


BPM:  Nana, who were your mentors growing up? How did they shape your life? 
My mentors were my family who not only taught me but showed me the importance of working and sacrificing as hard as it takes to achieve my goals. Because of them, I know there is no barrier I can't overcome or figure my way around. 

Specifically, my father explicitly challenged me to defy the notion that girls aren't as smart as boys. He had me reading by the age of three, playing educational games instead of Barbie dolls, and he sacrificed so much to pay my exorbitant college tuition. 

Growing up, my mother was the hardest worker alive. She literally worked around the clock to earn overtime, yet managed to find time to go back to college, and hit up her favorite flea markets on the weekend. 

My maternal grandmother whom I lived with in Ghana has been a huge influence as well. I watched this woman run an advertising company that she founded, open her home to strangers who needed shelter, haggle with businessmen, admit when she was wrong, seek peace when it was more convenient to just let things be, wake up at dawn to pray and squint over the text of her Bible, and encourage her children and grandchildren to dream and pursue the seemingly impossible. 

BPM:  What makes you powerful as a person and a writer? 
I think the fact that I did not give up was what enabled me to become a writer. I went from getting no response to my queries to "no" responses for many years, but I kept writing. I also remained flexible and took opportunities that allowed me to write even if they weren't necessarily part of the "path" I had envisioned. 

BPM:  What 3 personal qualities are most important to you? 
A. Humility, Ambition, and Sharpness 

BPM:  Finish this sentence- My writing offers the following legacy to future readers... 
I hope my writing offers present and future readers a legacy of encouragement to investigate and take pride in who they are, where they come from, and what their purpose in this life is. 

BPM:  Take us inside the book. What are two major events that take place?
Powder Necklace is a coming of age story inspired by my childhood experience attending boarding school in Ghana, West Africa. Set in London, the cities of Kumasi and Cape Coast in Ghana, and Long Island, the book is a sort of reverse Diaspora story of a 1st generation Londoner's return to her parents' native land, and her discovery of her own connection to this land. 

The main characters in Powder Necklace are Lila Adjei and her mother. The first major event that takes place is when Lila's mother sends her to Ghana when she misconstrues an innocent scene between Lila and a male friend that walks her home from school. That decision by Lila's mother sets the girl on a journey of self-discovery. Another seminal moment in the book takes place when Lila returns from Ghana to London. Not only has her family situation changed - her mother has started dating a man with a daughter her age - but she has changed. She realizes that, after her short stint in Ghana, she will never be the same again.


BPM: Powder Necklace is loosely based on your own personal experience attending school in Ghana. How much of your story is part of Lila's?
Lila's experience in Ghana is very similar to my own. When I was twelve my parents sent my siblings and I to Ghana. Because of the way the school system works over there, we couldn't all go to the same school, and I had to cut my hair - my long, thick hair that I LOVED flipping like a white girl. As if that weren't enough for my twelve-year-old mind to process, when I got to the school, I learned I was required to wake up at five a.m., bathe in an open bathhouse, make my bed with perfect hospital corners, perform daily chores like scrubbing a sidewalk-length patch of concrete or sweeping a large plot, hand wash my own clothes, etc. Oh, and to make things interesting there was a wicked water crisis going on. 

But unlike Lila, my grandmother and aunt visited me pretty much every weekend, loaded down with home-cooked food and water, and my parents sent me goodies and dollars when they could. I also clung to my newfound faith. I became a born-again Christian at the beginning of my visit in Ghana, before I started school there-in that respect I was a lot like Brempomaa and Ivy-and it helped A LOT just to cry out to God in the many moments of loneliness, desperation, misery, and fear I experienced. I released Lila from her school experience after six short months as a fantasy gift to my twelve-year-old self; I had to stay in Ghana for three long years!

Outside of the Ghana portion of the novel, the similarities between Lila's story and mine are more subtle. I made her British because Ghana was colonized by the British, and so a lot more of the bronis in Ghana were from London; I also have tons of family in London and spent a lot of time with them on summer breaks en route to New York. Lila's parents' divorce was my way of dealing with the feeling of separation from my parents. Even though I saw them each summer, I felt so disconnected from them at that time. On one summer vacation in the States we went to Disney World. Looking back on it, it was such an American moment in my life/American place to be when I was starting to feel more Ghanaian than anything else. 

Finally, the feeling of being at the mercy of the adults in her life was something I felt during that time and definitely wanted to explore through Lila. Ghanaian culture is heavily into seniority. As noted in the book, any adult in your life is reverentially referred to as "Auntie" or "Uncle" whether they're a blood relation or not; seniors at school are respectfully called "Sister"; and, as a rule, "children are to be seen and not heard" (that was the constant refrain I heard growing up in the States). It was important to me to stress that though the events in your life may feel random and out of your control, if you believe that God is in control of all the factors in your life-even the adults-you'll see that a lot of those random moments actually had more meaning than you first realized. That very turbulent moment in my life gave me a story that helped me realize my dream of writing a published novel. 


BPM:  How will reading your book shape the readers' lives?
I think Powder Necklace presents a slice of life in Ghana, London, and Long Island as experienced by a young girl trying to find the meaning in and of it all. So, on the surface, reading the book will educate readers about the specific sights and sounds of the characters' experiences in these disparate locales, but on a deeper level, I hope it spurs readers to learn more about these locations, these experiences, and their own place in the world. 

BPM:  What are some of their specific needs, issues, problems addressed in this book?
Everyone's got issues in Powder Necklace.  :-)  Lila, the main character, is frustrated by her powerlessness to make decisions for herself. Her mother decides she should go to Ghana indefinitely, then her mother and father decide she should go to New York indefinitely. Lila's mother is lonely and sick of doing it all by herself. She has sacrificed so much for her daughter's own good, but she needs a break; she wants to do something for herself. 

BPM:  What's the most powerful chapter in the book for you?
One of my favorite chapters in the book is when Lila is exposed as knowing how to speak Twi and as a result has to drop the "I'm special because I was not born in Ghana" routine. It's the beginning of her confronting why she has this 1st World Superiority complex which I think is important to her growth as a character. 


BPM:  In Powder Necklace Lila fell into writing her book through a series of happy coincidences (or perhaps fate). What has been your own literary path? Have you always wanted to have a career in writing?
I've always wanted to be a writer, but being immigrants, my parents wanted me to pursue a more stable (and clichéd) path to success: doctor, lawyer, or investment banker. Even though I graduated college with a poli-sci degree, I sought writing internships (and interned at the Village Voice newspaper), and after college skipped I law school and decided to try my hand at writing. I took office jobs, but during my lunch breaks, after work, and on weekends, I wrote up query letters to different magazines, which I would hand deliver. 

I got a few paid writing gigs and eventually landed a dream job as an assistant editor at an international fashion magazine, where I got to write and edit professionally-and meet celebs! When funds ran too low, I started over as an intern in the acquisitions department at Sony Pictures Classics, where I got to read and review screenplays. During that time I wrote a script that was a Sundance Screenwriter's Finalist. My editorial experience and fashion background helped me land a gig as a copywriter at an interactive agency where I got to write for the NikeWomen, L'Oreal Paris, and Avaya accounts. I continued to freelance for newspapers and magazines on the side.  In the midst of all of this, I was working on Powder Necklace.


BPM:  Ultimately, what do you want readers to gain from your book?
I want Powder Necklace readers to develop an appetite for the world beyond their borders; understand that what's on the news, in the news, in books, etc are just one slice of a gargantuan pie. I also want readers of this book to see that even the most random events in our lives are not random at all - everything does happen for a reason. 

BPM:  What do you think makes your book different from others on the same subject?
As far as the marketplace goes, I think Powder Necklace is unique because it tells a reverse immigration story, if you will. We mostly read about people leaving "the old country" for opportunity and a new life in the Western world, but Lila, the protagonist of this book and the daughter of an immigrant goes back - and it's in returning to her parents' native land that she starts to understand herself more deeply. 

BPM:  How can our readers reach you online? Share with us your online contact info. 
Readers can visit the official Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond's website at: www.nanaekua.com   
I'm on Twitter too - www.twitter.com/nanaekua   Email: writer : nanaekua@aol.com   

 

Purchase the Powder Necklace today!

 

ISBN-10: 1439126100 
ISBN-13: 978-1439126103 


Note: photo by Manjari Sharma - www.manjarisharma.com