Interview with Reem Gaafar, The First Sudanese to Win The Island Prize for African Novels

Novelist Reem Gaafar has received The Island Prize for African Novels 2023 for the manuscript of her upcoming debut novel, A Mouth Full of Salt, on 16 June 2023. She is the first Sudanese novelist to be nominated for and win the award.

In addition to being talented storyteller and writer, Reem is a 40-year-old public health physician and graduate student based in Canada. That’s not all. Reem wears many hats. She is also a researcher, documentary filmmaker and mother of three boys. 

Reem is a well-known blogger and the woman behind the popular blog, Life from Reem’s Perspective, where she publishes short stories, movie and books reviews, and more.

In addition to the award-winning manuscript of A Mouth Full of Salt, Reem has published fiction including two short stories published in anthologies. Her short story “Light of the Desert” was published in the anthology “I Know Two Sudans” and received an Honourable Mention by the award-wining Sudanese-Egyptian writer Leila Aboulela. Reem’s second short story “Finding Descartes” was published in the anthology “Relations”. She also has a large collection of blogs, magazine articles and health policy essays published on different platforms and in book chapters.

In addition to being a winner of The Island Prize, she has also been shortlisted for the Miles Moreland Foundation Scholarship 2020.

500 Words Magazine interviews Reem to learn more about her, her writings, and her award-winning upcoming debut novel, A Mouth Full of Salt.

What inspired you to become a writer?

It was two things: all the books I read, and my constant need to express and describe and tell stories in one way or another. I actually started off as a painter, and I was really good at it when I was young, but it bored me because I could only draw or paint from something I was looking at, but very rarely from imagination. So, when I started writing at 13 years old, it felt much more natural and it was so much easier to describe what was in my head. I wrote prolifically for extended periods then stopped writing for years then picked up again, so my writing was always fragmented and incomplete until I started getting published and shortlisted for awards. Only then did I start taking it more seriously and carving out time for it from my busy schedule. 

When and how did you begin to pursue writing as a profession?

When I transitioned out of clinical practice and into public health in 2012, I was suddenly doing a lot of writing for work. It was technical writing related to research and health policy but was still writing, and it really helped develop my skills that had been dormant for a while. I then took on medical writing for different organisations and campaigns and this included writing for the lay public, and this was the first time I was actually getting paid for writing. From there, I took on several communication and editing jobs. I didn’t really take on fiction writing as a profession simply because I had no time or energy for it, but after being shortlisted for the prestigious Miles Moreland Foundation scholarship in 2020 and getting published in the anthology “Relations”, I felt more encouraged and decided to complete at least one novel no matter what it took. That’s when I found The Island Prize. 

You’ve recently received the Island Prize for your novel, A Mouth Full of Salt. You are the first Sudanese to receive the award. What does this mean to you?

Winning a literary prize at this time especially means a lot of things to me. First, being Sudanese and competing and winning against African writers from countries that dominate the African English writing scene such as Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, and with writers who have educational backgrounds in creative writing while I had no official training in writing was in itself a huge victory for me personally, and because I was the one representing Sudan here. Second, winning the prize in the middle of the ongoing war helped draw attention to everything that’s going on in Sudan, as well as draw the Sudanese people’s attention away from it even if for a second. I was flooded with good wishes and messages of gratitude for giving people something to celebrate in the midst of all the misery we were in, and that in itself was a prize for me. 

Please tell us about your debut novel, A Mouth Full of Salt. What is it about, what inspired it and what stage is it at now?

A Mouth Full of Salt follows three women along several years in a small northern Sudanese village. It talks about a series of events that happen in the village which the villagers meet with suspicion and blame one of the women for it. The story highlights issues of racism, gender hierarchies and the need of people to find explanations no matter how outrageous rather than confront their own bigotry. It was inspired by a story I heard about a child who died while left in the care of his grandparents. The manuscript was picked up by Saqi Books and will be published in Spring 2024, but should be available for preorder some time before then. Announcements will be made on the publishers’ website and social media pages.

What are other projects you’re currently working on? Any future projects you would like to share with us?

I’m currently working on my uncle’s memoirs from his life as a politician and physician, as well as a second novel from which my short story “Finding Descartes” originated. This second novel is part of a series of works that fictionalise the 2018 popular revolution.

Do you have additional comments or any closing remarks?

I am where I am today in terms of writing because of several factors, but most importantly because people told me that I was a good writer and that they knew they would see my name in print one day. Even/especially for young writers, encouragement and showing faith can be the one thing that puts a writer on the track, while the lack of it may mean letting that talent die away. 

For more information on Reem Gaafar, click on the links below:

reemgaafar.com
Twitter: @GaafarReem
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/reemgaafar/
ResearchGate: www.researchgate.net/profile/Reem-Gaafar
Health Systems Research Lab: www.healthsystemsresearch.ca/

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Novelist Reem Gaafar First Sudanese to Win The Island Prize for African Novels