Nadine Aisha Jassat follows her brilliant poetry collection, Let Me Tell You This, with a book for children, The Stories Grandma Forgot (And How I Found Them). BooksfromScotland chatted with Nadine about some of her favourite books.

The Stories Grandma Forgot (And How I Found Them)
By Nadine Aisha Jassat
Published by Orion Children’s Books

The book as . . . memory. What is your first memory of books and reading?

Much like Nyla, my protagonist in The Stories Grandma Forgot (And How I Found Them), when I was a child I loved my local library, and would go almost every day after school. I read nearly the entire children’s section, and from there moved on to the crime section! I can still remember the covers and pages of some of the novels I borrowed again and again so clearly, and even, years later, hunted down a second-hand copy of one of the editions I loved the most. It now sits pride of place on my shelf as a reminder of the child I was, the books I treasured, and what libraries mean to me in my journey as a writer and reader. I wrote in It’s Not About The Burqa that I was a ‘daughter of stories’, and this is true – but I am also a child of libraries, and so its no surprise that they take centre stage in The Stories Grandma Forgot.

The book as . . . your work. Tell us about your book The Stories Grandma Forgot (And How I Found Them). What did you want to explore in writing this book?

Writing the novel began with two things: wanting to write about a young, mixed girl who wanted desperately to understand herself and who she was, and wanting to write about a granddaughter and her grandmother with Alzheimer’s. Both of these came from within me: from the child I once was filled with questions I had to figure out on my own, and from the adult poet seeing her own grandmother’s experience with Alzheimer’s. The Stories Grandma Forgot came into being in the longing in both those experiences, and it is a novel about love, family, community, legacy, and how to define ourselves for ourselves, and say ‘this is who I am’.  And, of course, it is a novel about stories.

The book as . . . inspiration. What is your favourite book that has informed how you see yourself?

Andrea Gibson was a great early influence in my journey as a poet. I have their books on my shelves now, however it was their performances on YouTube that I watched, back when I knew I had stories to tell, but didn’t know how to tell them. Their poetry told stories with so much heart, in such beautiful clever ways, just like how I wanted to, but hadn’t thought I could. It expanded my understanding of what poetry was and could be, and with it expanded the possibilities for my own journey, opening a door to where poetry became something that I could step into and make my own.

The book as . . . an object. What is your favourite beautiful book?

I am very lucky to have some gorgeous books on my shelves, but one in particular that always stands out is Sophie Anderson’s The House With Chicken Legs, whose rose gold foil started my love of metallic foils many years ago!

The book as . . . rebellion. What is your favourite book that felt like it revealed a secret truth to you?

I think I’ve learned secret truths from the books that I’ve written – the process to me feels like a conversation with myself, and ones in which I learn as I go. Let Me Tell You This taught me how much voice was central to my journey. The Stories Grandma Forgot taught me that there were whole worlds and characters hidden within me – and all I had to do was believe in myself, and have fun, to write them. Both books are rebellions in their own way, whether for the stories they tell, or how they tell them – and both exemplify my belief in the power of poetry to tell stories.

The book as . . . a destination. What is your favourite book set in a place unknown to you?

Anyone who follows my Instagram book reviews knows how much I love YA fantasy. One of my absolute favourites of the genre is Sarah J Maas’ A Court of Mist and Fury – I feel completely transported in the magic and beauty of the world she’s created. I think we must never forget the fun of reading – the joy of curling up and the hours disappearing away, the ‘just-one-more-chapters’ at midnight. It is sustaining, restorative. Maas’ world gives that to me.

The book as . . . the future. What are you looking forward to reading next?

I am deeply excited for Juno Dawson’s The Shadow Cabinet – and doubly so that she’ll be doing an Edinburgh event chaired by Katalina Watt! I’m also excited to read The Grief Nurse by Angie Spoto – it sounds such a brilliant, intriguing concept (and has that beautiful metallic foil I’m so fond of!). Scotland’s poetic talent is phenomenal – and in particular the writing of Mae Diansangu, Nasim Rebecca Asl and Roshni Gallagher has blown me away. You can find some of Mae’s writing via the National Library of Scotland’s Fresh Ink archive, and Nasim and Roshni’s pamphlets Nemidoonam and Bird Cherry were both recently released with Verve. I’m excited to see what these poets do next, and I can’t wait to read more from them.

The Stories Grandma Forgot (And How I Found Them) by Nadine Aisha Jassat is published by Orion Children’s Books, priced £7.99.