How orphans triggered my latest novel – Hadiza El-Rufai

Hadiza Isma El-Rufai, the First Lady of Kaduna State, is author of ‘An Abundance of Scorpions’, a novel inspired by her work with orphans. She is founder of Yasmin El-Rufai Foundation, a non-profit literary organization. Bookshelf cornered her for a chat. Bookshelf: How did the idea for your novel, ‘An Abundance of Scorpions’ come to […]

Hadiza Isma El-Rufai, the First Lady of Kaduna State, is author of ‘An Abundance of Scorpions’, a novel inspired by her work with orphans. She is founder of Yasmin El-Rufai Foundation, a non-profit literary organization. Bookshelf cornered her for a chat.

Bookshelf: How did the idea for your novel, ‘An Abundance of Scorpions’ come to you?

Hadiza Isma El-Rufai: I first got the idea for the book from a volunteer work I did with an orphanage in Abuja. That was what started the whole thing. I wanted to write a story about an orphan, so the novel is like the back story of the tale about that orphan. The second novel I am working on now is the one I actually started writing before ‘An Abundance of Scorpions’, which I eventually decided to develop into a novel.

While working in the orphanage at Abuja I always wondered about the children and the question of identity and where they came from. What makes us who we are usually came to my mind. Many of the orphans where I volunteered were just picked up on the streets, some as babies who had been dumped, but mostly new-borns from unmarried mothers. 

Bookshelf: What did it take to develop your central character and make her believable? 

Hadiza: My main character is a woman, a matron in the orphanage I wrote about. I think she’s an interesting character. She was part of the first story I started writing but she wasn’t the major character. I had to write a back story about her and that was how her own story developed. 

Bookshelf: What do you hope to achieve through ‘An Abundance of Scorpions’?

Hadiza: I’ll be very happy if readers read my book because I want to entertain people. I think the story is very engaging and I like to give people food for thought. 

Bookshelf: What would you say is different about this new book compared to what you have written in the past?

Hadiza: I think every story is different. For instance, I wrote ‘An Abundance of Scorpions’ in the first person. It’s the voice of the matron telling her story. However, the book I am working on now is written in the third person because I want to show the point of view of different characters.

Bookshelf: How did you start writing, generally?

Hadiza: I would say I started writing in 2008. I had a lot of time on my hands, so I started doing some online courses on creative writing. Before I took the online courses, I tried my hands on writing and quickly realised I needed to learn the craft.  That was how I went for the online courses before I decided to do an MA in creative writing in 2008. Since then I have been writing poetry and short stories. I have been working on ‘An Abundance of Scorpions’ for the last five years.