By Abdi Latif Ega
Greetings everyone! I am Abdi Latif Ega, author of Guban – a novel exploring the lives of a plethora of characters from all walks of life in postcolonial Somalia, as she revolves around its region, continent and world.
I am currently in the process of writing my second novel, Musa. The work is a chronicle of the American dream through the gaze of an African immigrant. He yearns to relocate far away from the pressures of institutional racism, back to Africa, after years in North America. A return back might be in order!
Musa is a work that aims to explore the difficult realities we so often confront in our “modern” existence: displacement, exile and the ever-present, looming large NOSTALGIA! This also includes my own experiences for over two decades in the US, with not too in-frequent returns.
The work endeavors to be critical, independent, and free of institutional restrictions that so often come along with their funding – funding that is hardly granted to independent voices. It takes a village to nourish free thought; your individual contributions through crowdfunding will do just that!
What We Need & What You Get
The funding will allow me to continuously work and finish the novel, Musa. Such an endeavor will entail the following:
- 1 year of sustained writing that includes research, writing, travel, and base cost of living.
- The research will require immersion through travel to these “modern” cities. This includes interviewing a myriad of African immigrants, returnees, and their families.
- The anticipated funding of $20,000 will aid in the writing of Musa, and will be allocated as follows:
- $5,000 – Travel (within major metropolitan American cities as well as one major African city) and transportation.
- $12,000 – Upkeep for minimalist living requirements for an entire year.
- $3,000 – Technical resources, research costs (interview pay, access to certain documents, e.t.c), and emergency funding.
The Impact
Your contributions will help bring a voice that will be an authentic recounting of an African immigrant’s life in the United States – in all its living glory, both good and bad.
Your sponsorship will ensure a critical narrative and an honest appraisal of the immigrant’s many realities – an alternative narrative to the oft-monolithic mainstream immigrant story of “rags to riches.”
Risks & Challenges
I consider myself a cultural worker and I tell everyone’s stories. The risk I face daily is being overwhelmed by the various mainstream publishers whose sheer size and capacity are always in favor of what they assume will be good for the marketplace. In doing so, the mainstream publishers drown out the non-contrived voices of independent writers.
This is where your contributions will make a vital difference. In aiding independent voices, you foster independent thinkers and allow them to speak truth to power.
Other Ways You Can Help
Thank you for your indulgence. Please be sure to share with friends and family, both far and wide!
