"Interviews"
Page 2
CVB: Is your writing
primarily for children, for parents, for teachers, some combination of
those, or is your work in this area secondary to other writing?
P.A.: My writing is
primarily for young people but I discovered that parents and teachers
are fascinated by the stories because they have discovered that each story
has a moral and can teach the lessons of life.
CVB: What inspired you
to start writing for that particular group?
P.A.: My original motivation
for writing and retelling the folktales was to preserver the stories,
but after they were published I discovered that the stories were excellent
vehicles for teaching and entertaining young people.
CVB: What sort of research
do you do for a book? What was the most interesting research trip that
you ever made?
P.A.: I research folktales
as a genre and made several trips to Africa. In West Africa I interviewed
fisherman, farmers, young adults, and children. I was interested in discovering
if the stories were still being used to entertain and teach the lessons
of life. I discovered that the stories were not being used for entertainment
or to teach the lessons of life. They were being used for political purposes.
The most interesting discovery was that the hero of my stories, the spider
(ananse), is in Cuban, Brazilian, and West Indian stories.
CVB: What was your greatest
triumph as a writer? Your deepest disappointment?
P.A.: The fact that
many ministers have been using my stories during their children's hour
and to illustrate their sermons. Several physicians have been using the
book as graduation gifts for their patients.
CVB: What advice would
you give someone interested in writing for children?
P.A.: One must love
and be interested in young people. One must be able to see the world from
the vantage and perspective of the young.
CVB: Do you do school
visits? If so, tell us about them. What do you do while there?
P.A.: Yes, I do school
visits. This is what I do most of the time. I do visits at all levels,
kindergarten, elementary, middle, and senior high schools. I also get
invited to colleges also. I enjoy the interaction with the students. They
ask a lot of questions and I learn a lot from them.
CVB: Do you have any
comments on the future of children's literature? Will it be adversely
affected by all the tumultuous changes going on within the publishing
industry?
P.A.: As long as there
are young people, and parents and teachers who aim to entertain them and
also teach them the lessons of life, there will be the need for the ordinary
book. Thus the need for the written work will survive the tumultuous changes
going on in the publishing industry.
CVB: Tell us about a
day in your life. How does a book get written?
P.A.: It usually takes
about a year to prepare the manuscript. I write in longhand and then I
share the stories with my family, friends, and children. They will react
to the stories. Sometimes they will tell me that there is too much violence
in the stories. I can write for many hours as long as the creative juices
are flowing.
CVB: How did you get
your first book published?
P.A.: My first book,
Ghana Folktales, was published in 1970. The purpose was to help
preserve the rich folklore tradition, myths, and proverbs of Ghana. I
discovered that they were disappearing because of urbanization and new
sources of entertainment.
CVB: What's next for
you? What new things can we expect to see?
P.A.: An anthology of
my poetry, Talking Drums,
to be published in February, 1999.
CVB: Thanks very much
for your valuable time. Before we end, is there anything else that you'd
like to say? Something that will help us understand you, the person behind
these books?
P.A.: I am a simple
and happy person. I am the eternal optimist. I believe that the young
will always be the hope of the future and the preservers of all cultures.
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