When Esinam Bediako submitted the manuscript for her debut novel ‘Blood on the Brain’ for consideration by the Ann Petry Prizeshe didn’t think she would be in the running for the top prize.
The award, established in 2020 by its Pasadena headquarters Red Kippers and the Peauxdunque Writers Allianceawards $3,000 to a work of fiction by a black author. Bediako, whose work was reviewed by author Deesha Philyawhas won. The prize comes with an additional benefit: the publication of Red Hen’s book.
“I didn’t really think I would win the award,” says Bediako. “I tried to put myself back in the spotlight by saying to myself, ‘If I set a deadline and submit my work to something, then I’m going to make it a habit to do that.’”
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“Blood on the Brain,” which Red Hen published in September, follows Akosua, a 24-year-old Ghanaian-American graduate student in New York who has had a rough year. Her relationship with her boyfriend Wisdom has ended and her feelings for another man, Daniel, are unrequited. She also recently learned that her absent father has moved from Ghana to the US, bringing up a past she would rather forget.
Making matters much worse, Akosua slips in the shower, hitting her head and causing a concussion, further throwing her life into disarray. But it also causes her to question her life choices, inspiring her to make drastic changes.
Bediako discussed her novel over the phone from her home in Claremont. This conversation has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.
Q: How did the character of Akosua initially come to you?
I started this book when I was in high school for my MFA, probably 17 years ago. I was in my early twenties, like Akosua at the time, and I was less mature as a writer, so I wrote characters that were basically just like me. They didn’t really have much conflict; they merely observe the conflicts. My sophomore year of high school, I thought, “I’m just going to write this character who, yes, we have a lot of demographics in common, but she’s just a lot bolder and more impulsive.” She was my alter ego in a way. It was a lot of fun writing from that perspective.
Q: That must have been cathartic.
It certainly was. I started that book almost twenty years ago and came back to it a few years later. It was interesting to revisit that character. I still don’t think I’m very much like her, but at least I now have a little more perspective to see how I have some of those thoughts and tendencies that she has, but am just a little bit better. For better or for worse, I can take a step back and think before I act. But it’s been interesting, now that I’m older, to see some of the ways that I was like, “Oh, you know what? Maybe I judged her too harshly and she is doing her best.”
Q: What’s special about this book is that she suffers a terrible head injury, and in a way it ultimately makes her more herself. What made you want to take this story in that direction?
In my first draft she just hit her head because I saw it as a way to introduce Ella and Wisdom, these two important characters. I just thought, “Oh, something bad must be happening to her for them both to come in at the same time.” But the more I thought about it, I realized this would be a pretty serious injury. I just started thinking more about what happens when you hit your head. I’m always interested in what motivates people to do the things they do, and I tend to think about that in terms of what traumas or past experiences influence the way you act.
I found it interesting to investigate what happens when you have a brain injury and how this can affect your personality. I thought it was a really interesting way to explore her personality and her actions and how she reacts to the things that are going on. I think it’s kind of strange that it seems like the injury is helping her be, say, and do the things she wanted to do, but I also think it’s a little vague whether she was always like that or not. Was this always there, or does she just have a concussion? And then after the book is done, a few days after the book is done, there would be a chapter where she says, “Oh no, what did I do?” Don’t know.
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Question: Akosua is very impressed by Wisdom who tells her that she is not Ghanaian enough. Why do you think that is so hurtful to her?
I had some scenes that I didn’t shoot where she described how much she valued the fact that her first love is this Ghanaian man. I took those scenes out because I thought they were a little too obvious, but what I hoped it would find in the book is that, for better or worse, she can’t help but touch Wisdom thinking while she thinks. about her father, and the question: “Am I good enough for you as a daughter?” turns into this question: “Am I good enough for you as a partner?” Whether she means it or not, she is conflating these two questions about the value she has to these two Ghanaian men, and to receive that kind of sense of Wisdom is a blow to who she is. It doesn’t matter if her mother or her friend Ella say she’s fine the way she is, but if this man rejects her, it’s just too painful.
Q: Do you think this is one of the reasons why she pursues Daniel, to get that kind of acceptance?
I think so. She gets very excited when he says, “You are both an American and a Ghanaian. You’re more complex than I thought.’ She is enthusiastic about that, even though it is a very superficial comment from him. She still doesn’t know him that well, but it’s almost as if she was looking in him for a Wisdom replacement and someone who could validate her Ghanaian identity.