Elizabeth-Irene Baitie is a Ghanaian writer and medical laboratory director. She holds an MSc in Medical Biochemistry with Molecular Biology from the College of Surrey.
Her first kids’s guide, A Saint in Brown Sandals, gained the Macmillan Author’s Prize for Africa. Her subsequent younger grownup novels— The Twelfth Coronary heart, The Dorm Problem, Rattling within the Closet, and The Lion’s Whisper— have been awarded the Burt Award for African Younger Grownup Literature. She has had eight novels revealed so far, and he or she lives in Accra.
Baitie’s most up-to-date guide, Flying Up The Mountain, is a sequel to Crossing The Stream, revealed in 2023. The novel focuses on the adventures of three buddies – Ato, Leslie and Dzifa. All three have been chosen to go to Nnoma, the hen sanctuary that Ato’s father helped construct earlier than he died. Ato is satisfied that his father hid one thing beneficial on the island, meant just for him. When the trio arrives at Nnoma with different kids from throughout West Africa, they’re break up into groups and given missions to assist broaden their information of nature. The winners will change into Asafo—ambassadors of Nnoma and defenders of the Earth. However then the adults operating Nnoma begin behaving erratically, and Ato suspects foul play. When the trio uncovers a sinister plot to take advantage of the sanctuary, Ato and his buddies should work collectively to guard it—and his father’s legacy.
We spoke to Baitie about Flying Up The Mountain, local weather change in Africa, Ghanaian folklore, and juggling two careers.
The place did this story come from?
From the love of my grandmother. I want each little one had the form of grandma that I had. She wasn’t excellent, however she was nonetheless a lady who constructed others up in every thing that was sturdy, courageous, clever, loving, nurturing and beneficiant. And she or he had a deep respect for the earth and its pure treasures.
How did your writing course of differ out of your final venture?
In writing Crossing the Stream, I needed to really feel my approach by an ocean of concepts. This meant that in the course of the editorial part, an enormous rewrite (learn: drastic adjustments within the plotline and large shifts in characters and roles) needed to be completed earlier than the story took its present pleasant kind. (An enormous thanks to my editor Helen Thomas for opening my eyes to what was doable!) By the point I used to be writing Flying up the Mountain, I had a reasonably stable concept of the plot course (there was an island to save lots of!) so the revision course of was much less brutal.
Have been there any story blocks?
Really, my greatest drawback (as all the time) was how a lot of my authentic concept to depart out. I needed to take a step again to do some ruthless reducing. This was not an issue as I’d had follow from Crossing the Stream.
Which components of the story simply flowed effortlessly for you if you have been writing?
The interactions between my essential character (12-year-old Ato) and his buddies. Leslie and Dzifa. They’re so actual to me; it felt as if I had them proper in entrance of me whereas I used to be telling the story.
Which character is closest to you and the way you see the world?
That must be Nana, Ato’s grandma – as a result of loads of what she stated have been echoes in my head from conversations with my very own grandma. I’d prefer to suppose I’ve one thing of her in me.
The plot and unfolding of occasions in Flying Up The Mountain additionally dwell on the perils that include local weather change. Is there a dialog available, from an African perspective? Does the truth that we produce the least emissions imply that we shouldn’t care an excessive amount of? Is the West putting an excessive amount of of a burden?
No nook of the world is excluded from the environmental dialog. Within the not-so-long run, the environmental insurance policies of every nation influence everybody. I write concerning the island of Nnoma, however this island is related to the world, and so it’s with every nation – landlocked, coastal, or island. All of us collectively have to care about local weather change and be intentional about cleaner, greener methods of residing, not only for these of us alive right this moment, however for the generations to come back.
The adventures of Ato and his buddies unfold in a way just like the ordeals of Ananse in Ghanaian folklore. What sort of tales impressed you rising up, and in catering to younger audiences, do you draw inspiration from previous folks tales?
As a baby, I learn broadly. Something in print was a magnet to me. Many of the literature out there in Ghanaian bookshops was from Europe or the USA, and my father did an important job satisfying my studying urge for food with these. Though there weren’t many native tales in print to get pleasure from, storytelling was nonetheless very fashionable inside households, colleges, and communities. This meant there was no scarcity of recounters of Ananse tales and different folktales, all of which excited my creativeness. My very own storytelling attracts from this broad background – a variety of influences coming collectively to form my perspective as a storyteller.
You could have a full, thriving profession within the sciences, and in your final two books, there are chapters the place the protagonists work together with nature, chemical assets, and biohazards. At what level did you make peace with the truth that each your worlds (science and literature) will all the time collide?
Years in the past, after ending college, I made peace with the truth that writing and storytelling would all the time be a central a part of my life— the one approach I’d really feel some steadiness. My background in science and my literary facet feed into one another and I’ve merely accepted that juggling the 2 careers is my lifestyle. It’s a bit like having two very totally different kids. They each require my love and a spotlight.
Flying Up the Mountain tells the story of a paradise for birds and nature that’s below menace from saboteurs. Did you additionally intend it to be a metaphor for Africa’s assets and colonial imperialism, or would we be studying an excessive amount of into it by doing so?
It’s not a lot about colonial imperialism however extra about shining a highlight on how we, on the African continent, handle the unimaginable assets we’ve been gifted with. Our personal poor stewardship, greed, and short-sightedness are sometimes at play within the exploitation of our pure assets. I don’t need to level to exterior powers, though they’re additionally a part of this untidy combine. Finally, I imagine that we give others permission to deal with us respectfully or in any other case.
In Flying Up the Mountain and its prequel Crossing The Stream, you level to kids doing nice work in defending the surroundings. To what extent is there a consciousness of this in Ghana, and on the African continent at massive? Is the position of kids in environmental conservation not heralded sufficient?
I really feel that environmental points typically don’t get the eye they deserve on the African continent, largely as a result of different equally urgent issues – poorly resourced colleges, insufficient sanitation and healthcare companies, poverty, avenue kids, refugees, and regional warring – take up a lot area within the enviornment of wants. The voices advocating for the surroundings are sometimes drowned out by these challenges.
I hope this story concerning the stunning island of Nnoma heightens consciousness of environmental points inside kids and excites them to discover and fall in love with the good outside. Spending day trip in nature, particularly in childhood, is thought to sensitise kids about environmental points, making them extra more likely to advocate for a greener planet as they develop up.
You might be two books into the adventures of Ato, Dzifa and Leslie. Are you trying at a trilogy? Are there prospects of a franchise, re Harry Potter?
Completely! There will certainly be one other guide. These 3 Asafo, protectors of the earth, have solely simply gotten began, and an enormous journey is on the best way.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU …
What are you watching? The cedi-dollar alternate fee. Really, in my spare time, I spend an excessive amount of time speaking on the telephone to observe something. Sure, I do know I’m lacking out on loads of good things.
What are you studying? Petina Gappah’s An Elegy for Easterly (Assortment). Grim, however gripping. Earlier than that, I learn Mo Issah’s Mid Life Shift. Trustworthy and illuminating. I extremely advocate each. Subsequent on my record is White Home Clubhouse by Sean O’Brien.
The final movie you watched? Conclave. 2 hours well-spent. I didn’t even thoughts that my footrest within the cinema didn’t work.
The final play you noticed? An Ebo Whyte play in Accra earlier this 12 months. He ensures a well timed begin and good laughs.
The final dwell music occasion? A Pageant of 9 Classes and Carols from Christmas 2024. Does that rely?
What’s presently in your playlist? Joe Mettle’s Bo Noo Ni (as a result of I dwell in perpetual because of God) and Spyro’s Who’s Your Man? (ft Tiwa Savage) as a result of I really like to bounce.
What podcast are you listening to? The Resilient Thoughts by Joe Dispenza, and Author Unleashed by Nanci Panuccio.
What’s in your bucket record? If it’s enjoyable, comes with nice firm and entails good meals and scenic views, then take into account that it’s on my bucket record.
The place’s your blissful place? A protracted peaceable stroll, with my telephone and music, and a fruit tart on the finish of it.
Have fun another person… Dad, thanks for being my lifelong encourager.
Have fun your self… Eight books, seven awards and two Kirkus stars. I’m grateful.
What’s subsequent? Guide No 9. It focuses on a 12-year-old woman who discovers her city has an enormous drawback, and is ready for her to repair it. My first time writing magical realism (No stress, proper?)
The place can we discover you? Fb – Elizabeth-Irene Baitie, Instagram – @elizabeth_irene_baitie
The place can we watch you at work? Within the spare bed room of our dwelling, by the window going through the backyard and the empty canine kennel (our canine roam the grounds wild and unleashed).
Flying Up The Mountain, revealed by Nigerian writer Cassava Republic Press, is out there to order right here.