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Interview with Andrea Levy

Andrea Levy is a British author, born in England to Jamaican parents, who has written five novels based on her Caribbean heritage. She visited Zürich on 24 March to promote her latest book, The Long Song.

A group of ZIWA members attended the reading at Kaufleuten and we were captivated to hear her read her own words, and I was also lucky enough to conduct an interview with her:

1.  How long did your new book, The Long Song, take to write? I see there was a gap of over 6 years between publication of this one and the last book.

Yes - It took all of that time, I'm afraid. I'm not a fast writer. Promoting Small Island did bite into that time a bit, but The Long Song was a difficult book to write, as it was set in a time and a place that I don't live in, and involved a lot of research.

2.  Did you do your own research? What did that entail?

Yes, I did it all myself. The bibliography at the end of the book gives you a taste of the sort of reading I needed to do. Some of that was modern academic stuff, but some of the most valuable materials for me were the contemporaneous accounts and journals of the time - mostly from white people - talking about life in the Caribbean. For these I often had to source the original editions in the British Library. In addition to reading myself into that time and place, I also took a trip to Jamaica and spent some days on an old sugar plantation. This was invaluable in giving me a physical sense of place - buildings, flora, geography, climate - without which I just couldn't have written the book.

3.  Does writing get easier or harder with each book?

For me it probably gets a bit harder, but that's because I have tried to be more ambitious with every book that I write. Certainly this last book was challenging. But being a challenge doesn't make it less interesting or rewarding though.

4.  How much does your personal experience form a part of your writing?

My first three novels were based quite heavily on my own life experiences. And all my books have been motivated by a desire to explore my Caribbean heritage and it's place in British history and society. So I guess my work always flows out of who I am, even if it's now moved beyond my personal experience.

5.  Do you regard yourself as British or Jamaican? How important is your heritage to you now?

British. I've lived all my life in London. My parents came from Jamaica, but I have only visited that island twice, and the first time was in my thirties. When I was growing up my Jamaican heritage was a bit of an embarrassment to me. But in my twenties I became fascinated and inspired by it. It is what made me want to write books.

6.  How did you get started on your writing career? Did you have any previous jobs that inspired your books in any way?

I studied textiles at art college and then went on to work, very briefly, as a textile designer and then in the costume departments of the BBC and The Royal Opera House. All these experiences found their way into my early novels. I then retrained as a graphic designer, and it was whilst I was working in a design studio that I started doing an evening class in creative writing - just as a hobby. But I found I really liked writing, and people encouraged me. Eventually, after publishing my first few novels I finally gave up my day job and decided to call myself a novelist.

7.  Do your friends and family encourage you with your writing?

They always have done, and that has been so important in enabling me to carry on. I just couldn't have done it without that support. I'm not sure that my mum was too happy with my early autobiographical novels though. She didn't want 'everyone to know our business'.

8.  Were you happy with the TV adaptation of your last book, Small Island?

I thought it was a really great piece of television drama. Beautifully acted and faithful to the spirit of the book. It's not the book of course, it had to be condensed and changed to work as a drama, but I thought that the result was a real triumph.

9.  I see that you are involved with various book prizes and awards as well as winning some yourself. Are awards important to a writer?

They have certainly been important for me. Winning the Orange Prize was a dramatic turning point in my career. But I think their wider value is for publishing and for the reading public. They create a focus, a buzz, an interest around contemporary fiction that helps it to thrive and reach a wider audience.

10.  We don't have many members from the Caribbean, but one of our Zambian members has written the draft of a book relating her experience of systematic abuse by her father. It's a very powerful and shocking story. Can you give her any advice about getting a publisher?

The truth is that it's not easy to get published and you really have to have some perseverance and a thick skin. Somewhere I still have all the rejection letters that could paper a wall. Certainly in the UK if you want to get a publisher you first need to get an agent. So that is the first step - find out who and where the agents are and what sort of work they specialise in. Then send them your draft. If they don't take you on, don't give up. Try someone else. I wish her good luck.





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