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PERCY ZVOMUYA JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Nov 13 2009 06:00

Zimbabwean writer Petina Gappah's short-story collection Elegy for Easterly (Faber and Faber) has been shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. Here, in a Q&A with Percy Zvomuya, Gappah tells us about herself and her work

Describe yourself in a sentence.
Standing 155cm in her bare feet, but benefiting from an additional 12 centimetres in her favourite platform wedges, Zimbabwean lawyer and writer Petina Gappah is round-faced, optimistic, energetic, highly opinionated and easily amused, a devourer of books, lover of fashion, opera and the music of the Bhundu Boys, and an inveterate traveller who believes that the best hair-braiders in Africa are to be found at Kenyatta Market in Nairobi.

Describe your ideal reader.
My ideal reader looks and thinks and speaks exactly like you. In fact, my ideal reader is you.

What was the originating idea for your stories?
All of my stories are based on one true thing, something that happened to me, to someone in my family, to a friend, something I read or overhead. For instance, I was walking at Victoria underground station in London and heard someone say: "Ufunge, kubva musi waauya, haana kana kumbotengawo kana kanyamawo zvako, which is Shona for: "Can you imagine, from the day he arrived, he has not bought even a tiny piece of meat." Right there, I thought, is the seed for the most marvellous story.

Describe the process of researching, writing and publishing the book.
I did not realise that I was actually writing a book. I had a mini life-crisis when I realised I could end up as one of those people who bore you endlessly with talk of how they have always wanted to write, how they have a book in them and so on. I decided the time had come to stop being someone who wanted to be a writer, but to actually be a writer. So I started to write and, more importantly, I finished things that I started. I wrote every day, some days more successfully than others. I wrote different stories, trying out different voices. I posted my first story to the Zoetrope Virtual Studio, an online writing workshop where other writers give you feedback on your work. That story was picked up by Per Contra, an online journal. My second story did extremely well in the 2007 SA/PEN competition. I wrote and published some more stories after that and, before I knew it, I had about 19. At the same time, I was also writing a novel, which I thought would be my first published book. Then my agent, Clare Paterson, suggested sending the stories out with the novel; Lee Braxtone and Mitzi Angel at Faber really liked the stories and suddenly I had a two-book publishing deal.

How long did it take?
I wrote the stories between May 2006 and August 2008. Some stories took a shorter time to write, some longer. I usually knock out a first draft and then I rewrite and rewrite. Then I rewrite. After that, I rewrite. Then I put it away and come back to it with a fresher mind. Then I rewrite.

Name some writers who have inspired you and tell us briefly why or how?
I love writing and the world it has opened up for me. At the same time I derive great satisfaction and intellectual stimulation from the practice of law, especially my current position aiding and advising developing countries on international trade issues. I hope to combine a career that I love with writing, so I am inspired by writers who have managed to combine high-profile, non-writing-related careers with their creative work, people such as PD James, who was an administrator in England's National Health Service, Scott Turow, who runs a legal practice, the Zimbabwean writers Nozipo Maraire and Valerie Tagwira, who are both specialist doctors, and Vikas Swarup, who wrote the novel on which Slumdog Millionaire is based and is a high-ranking diplomat in India's foreign service.

What were you reading when you launched Elegy for Easterly in South Africa?
I always read at least three books at the same time. I was reading The Dubliners by James Joyce and a story collection by Roald Dahl called Switch Rhymes-with-Witch. (I cannot write the word that rhymes with witch because I understand that the Mail & Guardian is a family paper). I was also rereading A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine.

Do you write by hand or use a typewriter or computer?
I always carry a notebook with me, usually a Moleskine. I would feel lost without one. I write in the notebooks whenever I have a moment or whenever something hits me. Then I transpose my handwritten notes to my computer and knock out a first draft. When I am rewriting, I edit on a hard copy, then make the edits on the computer. I do this for each new version until the story is done.

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What is the purpose of fiction?
To move. To amuse. To take us out of ourselves and plant us in the feet of another. To make us see the universality of all human experience. To give flavour to history.

Wine, beer, water or Coke?
Wine. Water. Coke. Beer.

Favourite TV show?
Seinfeld.

Are you into sports?
I love tennis, both playing and watching it. Were it not for my dodgy right knee, I might have been Africa's first Wimbledon singles champion! I'll have to leave that glory to Kush (unless another African gets there first).

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