One
Cowrie Shell
1. What inspired you to write your book?
I am first
interested in history, culture and tribal life in Africa and the United States.
Growing up in Alabama in the 1960’s, I also became fascinated by the civil
rights movement. I remember reading Roots
by Alex Hailey and being hugely impacted by it. As many know, his story begins
with a young man going to the forest to get wood to make a drum and then was
captured by slave traders and sold to the United States. From this, I wondered
why African tribes didn’t come together and fight against slavery and those
selling slaves to the United States. As I researched more, I found that many
African tribes were fighting against each other and selling prisoners of war to
the slave trade – thereby intentionally participating in the slave trade. This
also made me wonder if African tribes knew what was happening to the slaves in
this part of the world and eventually concluded that they didn’t know what was
happening in the United States. However, they did see the brutality of the
slaves being forced onto the slave ships bound for the Western hemisphere. With
this, I wondered about the daily life of African people and how the wars and
slave trade affected them – like if there were enough tribal people left to
tend their gardens, marry or participate in any other daily activities.
2.
What is it about?
One Cowrie Shell is a fiction novel set on the west
coast of Africa in the early 1800’s. The story follows Jaiye, a young Yoruba
tribesman. His age is not specifically mentioned but he is coming of age to be
a man, around 19 years old and wants to be a man sooner than he should. His
tribe, the Yoruba, have regular battles with the Dahomey, their neighboring
tribe. After each battle prisoners of war are taken and sold to the slave
traders. Jaiye is not participating in the battles yet, but he is ready to join
the fights. Jaiye asks his father when can he join the fight and what happens
to the prisoners of war being sold to the slave traders. Jaiye’s father is a
high priest in the Shango cult of the Yoruba.
He tells Jaiye his time to fight will come soon enough and don’t worry
about what happens with the prisoners of war being sold to the slave trade. The
second main issue facing Jaiye is that a wife has been selected for him. Jaiye has developed a crush on another young
lady and he asks his father and the village elders to change their selection of
Akinya to Kembi. All village elders say no and that the selections are final. Kembi
is happy with the choice that has been made for her. Jaiye believes that if he gets her intended
husband out of the way she will be more inclined to want to marry him. Jaiye
hatches a plot to get rid of the intended husband. His plans go awry and Kembi
is sold into slavery. Determined to save her, Jaiye goes to the United States
to get Kembi back so he can marry her. One
Cowrie Shell is the story of love, adventure and defiance by Jaiye to get
his beloved back, but also see the horrors of slavery. It gives a perspective of slavery from an
African who was not a slave. With the help of current and former slaves, he
finds Kembi but she does not return with him. With the help of more current and
former slaves and abolitionists, he finds his way to New York, England and back
home to his Yoruba village. He tells his mother and father and the rest of the
villagers about his adventure and that selling each other is not worth what is
happening to them. He tries to convince his tribe and the Dahomey to stop
fighting but again, his plans go awry.
3.
What do you hope
will be the everlasting thoughts of readers who finish your book?
I would like to
pique the curiosity of readers who finish my book. Early Africans used cowrie
shells as money. The Africans received cowrie shells as payment for prisoners
of war who were sold to slave traders. I would like for my readers to have
curiosity about history and other cultures.
I would also like my readers to look inside their own souls to see what
is important to them. I would also like my readers to question in their own
lives and community what is important and what is not important. I would like to introduce my readers to new
ideas. I would also like to have my readers see a common event or idea and see
it from a new perspective.
4.
What advice do you
have for writers?
My advice to
writers is to immerse yourself in your writing. I would encourage writers to
thoroughly research a topic and then live within the soul of the person or
event you are writing about.
5.
Where do you think
the book publishing industry is headed?
I think the book
publishing industry is headed toward more self-published books and more ebooks. As a writer, there is a great push to separate
yourself and your book from the thousands of other books that are published
each day. I see the book publishing industry trying to reach out to more
minorities and other groups that typically don’t buy as many books as larger
ethic groups buy. I also foresee the industry trying to make more books into
movies and genres that use visual media more than actually reading.
6.
What challenges
did you have in writing your book?
There have been at
least two major challenges in writing my books. The first challenge is managing
the time to write and finish my books.
The second challenge has been to learn marketing and how to get my book
out to encourage people to purchase and read my book. There is not an
all-inclusive guide to tell writers how to navigate the world of writing,
publishing and marketing.
7.
If people can only
buy one book this month, why should it be yours?
People should buy my
book this month because it introduces you to a new concept. First, this is a
love story, and what would one mate do for another. It is a story of adventure and defiance. After
all in the village said travel to this world and coming back to the village
were impossible, Jaiye attempted it anyway. This is a story of an African who
wasn’t a slave and his perspective on slavery in this world. One Cowrie Shell is replete with new
ideas about a terrible time in history for this planet. This is filled with new ideas and ways to
look at old ideas from a new perspective. This is a story far different from any other
published story.
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