I am glad to be featured on Open Book’s Entitled Series, which digs into the meaning and importance of titles. Open Book, an organization that celebrates and profiles Ontario’s non-stop literary scene, with a special focus on the books and events produced by Ontario’s independent, Canadian-owned publishers, had this to say about Maame
“.Celebratory, tough, and powerful, these stories, which make up Allua’s debut full length work, explore the nature of motherhood through fascinating and vivid characters.”
Below is an excerpt from the interview.
OB:
Did you consider any other titles for your current book and if so what were they? Why did you decide to go with the title you eventually picked?
EAV:
I knew my title was going to have “mother” in it. I was going to use the Nzema word ɔmɔ (“mother”) as the title. Then I realized, how would non-native speakers search this word online? Then I tried Omo—except it is a popular detergent in Ghana. Eventually I settled on Maame, another word used for “mother,” but one that doesn’t need special characters on the keyboard.
Read the full interview here:
