Toni Kan: Please introduce yourself for the records
Kina Likimani: My name is Kina Likimani and in this space I am a blogger of African literature and I am also working on my first collection of non-fiction, essays.
T.K: Okay, so a blogger is a writer who writes in the online space. Yeah? When did you realize you wanted to do this?
K.L: Well, it’s really because I am a reader and I grew up in a home with books and I read a lot. When I finished college, I realised that there were gaps in my reading, particularly related to translated fiction. So, I started … there was what they called Web Blogs, I would go online and look for what to read, syllabuses, but it was when I came back to Ghana in 2011, I realized people were doing book blogging but I realised that there weren’t many places where they discussed African literature. So, that’s what made me do this. It started out as a cataloguing of my reading, dominated by African literature and translated fiction.
T.K: So we have bloggers everywhere but how did you manage to make yours stand out? What did you do differently with kinnareads?
K.L: I think within the book space, it was the subject matter. There weren’t many people writing about African and black literature. I also used to run challenges. But I think what made me stand out was the fact that my reading was unique among people of the world. It was a really eclectic mixture.
T.K: Do you have an office or you do it from home?
K.L: Related to my blogging, I do it from home
T.K: Now you are working on your short fiction essays. What issues do you look at or address in that book?
K.L: I am looking at issues like freedom, and what that means set against my own background growing up. I am looking at freedom, our so-called lack of movement as a country, our dissatisfaction, gender issues, stuff like that.
T.K: Are these brand new essays or previously published?
K.L: They are new essays
T.K: So how do you write? In the morning, afternoon…
K.L: I write in the mornings. My time to write is now 4:15 to 5:30
T.K: Everyday?
K.L: My plan is everyday but it isn’t quite so (laughs) but I try as much as possible to keep to that. Sometimes, I write a lot, other times, I don’t write anything and I don’t beat myself up about it. I am not working against some publisher’s deadline but I am working towards completing the book.
T.K: So how far have you gone with the book?
K.L: So far I think I have three completed essays.
T.K: And the target?
K.L: I am targeting about 10
T.K: Does it have a working title?
K.L: Not yet but I always said that if I wrote a memoir, it would be titled ‘I Lost a Country’
T.K: Wow. Some famous guy wrote ‘There was a Country’ and then he…so be careful. (Laughs)
K.L: (Laughs)
T.K: Thank you Kinna.
