What inspired you to write Translations?

I’ve long held a fantasy of dropping everything in my life and setting up stake in the bush, but when I actually considered writing about a woman doing that, I realised it wasn’t so idyllic. Upon whose land was she ‘setting up stake’? Who had come before? Who were the people living near her now, and what responsibilities would they expect from a stranger? Is it even possible to start a ‘new’ life? The novel came from searching for the answer to those questions.

What were the most challenging and enlightening aspects of writing your book?

Most challenging was the editing. It was my first real novel, and about 30k words of extraneous adjectives were cut in the structural and copy edits over two years of working with some incredible mentors and editors. In that sense, editing was also the most enlightening aspect. I’m a much more competent writer and self-editor now. The work that others put into teaching me transformed the way I approached my second novel.

In what ways do you think the narrator in Translations might be an empowering figure for women and young girls?

Aliyah is prickly, hot-headed and stubborn; she is selfish and self-isolating in response to her own pain. I wanted her to be lured back into the world by the love of strangers and old friends, rather than punished for her deviance from the perfect archetype of motherhood and femininity. She’s not totally let off the hook, but people give her a chance to take accountability. She learns that she can be loved without having to explain or justify her otherness. I wanted this to be an example of hope and generosity to girls and women, especially Muslim women who are often pigeon-holed or sidelined in Western literature.

How do you think literature helps to shape our understanding of ourselves and others?

The form inherently forces the reader to do so much of the work alongside the writer, imagining and projecting a whole world onto the page. In that way, it fosters a uniquely immersive and laborious relationship to the work compared to other artforms. It’s because of the effort and mental collaboration involved in reading that novels are such a potent vessel of self-illumination. Great books just know how to amplify your searchlight to shine bright and deep and in unexpected directions.

What was the most recent book you’ve read about women or girls that moved you?

Biography of a Revolution by Lucia Sorbera is an extensive, riveting and inspiring account of the feminists who led the human rights movement in Egypt. Personal accounts from the many women she interviewed taught me I have a lot more in common with the struggles of my forebears than I imagined. But we can also aspire towards a lot more liberty and justice than we imagine if we can carry those women’s legacy of immense courage.