Yellowwood Park Primary School’s young bookworms interview well known author
The two Grade 4 Yellowwood Park Primary School learners had the opportunity to interview the author of a book they enjoy reading.
For National Book Week from 2 to 8 September, Aphelele Ndlovu and Nondumiso Mthethwa got to experience a treat most readers can only dream of.
The two Grade 4 Yellowwood Park Primary School learners had the opportunity to interview the author of a book they enjoy reading. They read the children’s novel ‘Nisa Qamar and the Master of Jinniaville’ as a self-selected title and compiled interview questions for its author, Shafinaaz Hassim.
Hassim was gracious enough to agree to answer the 10-year-olds’ questions via email when approached with the request by the school’s librarian, Siphili Makhanya.
How did you become an author?
I’ve been writing since I was eight-years-old. I kept a yearly school journal and that became a habit which trained me in the art and discipline of writing regularly. I used to blog for a few years. My sociology thesis at university was published as a book in 2007 and that’s when I officially became an author.
How did it feel when you were writing your first book?
My first book was a non-fiction research project for my thesis and I didn’t think at that time it would get published. It was a project that I found very exciting and relevant and it’s called ‘Daughters are Diamonds’. It looks at how women are seen in traditional cultures. My second book was a collection of writing from my blog of the same name, ‘Memoirs for Kimya’. My recent novel ‘Leached June 2019’ is my 10th publication.
Are any parts of Nisa Qamar and the Master of Jinniaville real or true? If so, which parts?
For me, the relationships she forms with friends and family are as real as some of the ones I’ve seen or experienced. I have a very strong and wonderful grandmother from whom I’ve learned many things. I also believe in the power of prayer. And siblings can be your greatest strength, so it’s important to know you can stand up for each other.
Why does Nisa’s family wear scarves when they go to the bathroom?
Nisa’s gran teaches them that there are unseen creatures who can possess you by grabbing your hair and they can be found near the toilet or outside in the dark. So by covering their hair, which holds energy, they protect themselves.
What other books did you write?
Daughters are Diamonds (2007), Memoirs for Kimya (2009), Belly of Fire (2011), SoPhia a novel (2012), Soul Seeds for Shade and Solitude (2014), Nisa Qamar and the Master of Jinniaville (2016), The Garden of Love and Longing (2017), Princess Rasgulla and the Ponytail Monster (2017), Nisa Qamar and the Rainbow Healers Society (2018) and The Economics of Love and Happiness (2019).
Are you proud of who you are?
I find it incredibly satisfying when I’ve completed a new book and it gives me motivation to continue to write. I believe that writing is one of my purposes.
What date was Nisa Qamar’s birthday on?
This is such an interesting question, as no one has asked me this before, because I’ve been writing the series year by year. Where Nisa starts off as a 10 year-old, I just made it that her birthday falls in the holidays but not on a specific date.
How does the experience of writing for children compare to that of writing for adult readers?
I think I’ve had more fun writing the children’s books, and at the same time I’m mindful of the responsibility of representation when writing for young minds. The content differs, but the intention to inspire, educate and entertain readers while making them reflect remains the same.
Can we look forward to anymore books in the Nisa Qamar series?
In 2017, I wrote a children’s story, called ‘Princess Rasgulla and The Ponytail Monster’ about a group of children who invite a homeless child to live with them. In 2018 I launched the second in the Nisa Qamar series, ‘Nisa Qamar and the Rainbow Healers Society’. And the third book in the series has been shortlisted for the Sanlam prize for youth literature 2019 and will be launched next year with the title ‘Nisa Qamar and the Legend of Qawthar’. I am also writing the fourth book in the series and I hope that I will be inspired to build more stories in the series. “It’s so exciting when our children get swept up in the magic of a good story, especially given the widespread belief that ‘South Africans don’t read’. We are lucky at the school to be able to honour our children’s right to access diverse, representative and quality books,” said Makhanya. “I thought it would be a lovely experience for them since writing to authors is such a fun part of reading culture, as well as an experience I wished for when I was a young reader who loved the books of Roald Dahl.”
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