Featured Interview With D.A. Lee
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a Bangladeshi-born British writer, author and poet best known for my Novel ‘Written’ published in Dec 2019. Raised in a northern town in Lancashire I grew up with hills in front of me and a world of wonder beyond it.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I first started writing at the age of six or seven, I had always dreamed of writing a book and even had a lofty goal of writing an encyclopedia! Of course, that didn’t eventuate. I faced a lot of trauma as a child and my best friend was an imaginary one. With her, I could do anything, be anyone.
My parents didn’t always have the means to buy a lot of books so I used to invent stories for my siblings at bedtime. In my later life writing became my only place to put the haunts of childhood behind me, it was then I found the courage to write and it is how after 16 years I came to publish my first book.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Khaled Housseini’s, Kite Runner. I love this book so much that I have read it 3 or 4 times.
Arundhati Roy: The God of All Small Things. She writes so beautifully, it was one of my first literary books that I had read and had inspired me to write more.
Maya Angelou: ‘I know why the caged bird sings.’ I could relate to this book, I have found that Maya’s words of courage always helped me overcome my fears of pushing through to the end goals.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My book is a novel about a little girl who has been told that her whole life has already been written and that she has no choice but to honour and accept her parents’ plans for her.
The word ‘Written’ is the title of the book and a poignant theme throughout the book, it’s a word that is often expressed culturally to describe the notion of determinism and predestination adopted by most traditional Muslim families as a common explanation for events in life. The book takes you on a journey through the main character Eleanor, a young girl caught between a web of family secrets and lies where she comes into conflict with these values.
The book is about honour, love, face and the choices women end up making to withhold the family name, it takes you through wreckage it leaves behind and discusses the cultural issues associated with marriage, domestic violence, mental abuse and misogyny.
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