In April 2019 it was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Ondaatje Prize and for the Jhalak Prize[23][24][25][26] Aminatta Forna was born c. 1965 in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland, near Glasgow,[27] the third child of her parents Mohamed Sorie Forna, a Sierra Leonean who had completed his medical training in Scotland and had a practice, and his wife Maureen Christison, who is Scottish.
With her family, the girl Aminatta lived in nine homes during six years, also spending time as a child in Iran, Thailand and Zambia.
[28] Ten years old when her father was killed,[10] Aminatta Forna finished school in England and studied law at University College London.
Forna's work, both fiction and non-fiction, is concerned with the prelude and aftermath to war, memory, and the conflict between private narratives and official histories.
She explores how the gradual accretion of small, seemingly insignificant acts of betrayal find expression in full-scale horror.
"[28] Ancestor Stones, Forna's second book and first novel, won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for debut fiction in the US[44] and the LiBeraturpreis[22] in Germany.
The girls' stories are written by 10 acclaimed writers and narrated by 10 world-class actresses, including Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Freida Pinto and Cate Blanchett.
[55] Forna wrote about Mariama, an intelligent woman who studies engineering in university and strives to extend the opportunity of education to young girls.
[40][42][58][57][59][60][61][62][63][64][65] In the United States The Boston Globe said that "not since The Remains of the Day has an author so skilfully revealed the way history's layers are often invisible to all but its participants, who do what they must to survive".<[66] Happiness, Forna's fourth novel, was published in the US in March 2018, and in the UK in April 2018.
It explores themes of love, trauma, migration and belonging, the conflict between nature and civilisation, and how multi-layered experiences can grow resilience.
[67] Happiness has been featured on several recommended reading lists, including BBC Culture,[68] The Root,[69] The Guardian,[70] The Irish Times,[71] and The i Paper.
[73] The Financial Times review of Happiness said: "Forna is a risk-taker, a writer who doesn't hold back from tackling big themes".
[74] The Washington Post described Forna as a "subtle and knowing" writer able to fold "weighty matter into her buoyant creation with a sublimely delicate touch".
[76] Kirkus Reviews, featuring the author on its cover, wrote: "Low-key yet piercingly empathetic, Forna's latest explores instinct, resilience, and the complexity of human coexistence, reaffirming her reputation for exceptional ability and perspective.
Her path is never straight, she doubles back, crisscrosses ... she approaches the thought from elliptical angles, bringing moments of startling clarity.
"[78] The Observer's Alex Preston wrote of Happiness: "It is as if the author has privileged access into multiple spheres of existence, learning the secret languages of each".
"[81] Happiness was featured on numerous international end-of-2018 round-ups as one of the best books of the year, including Kirkus Reviews,[82] the UK's The Guardian,[83] and South Africa's Sunday Times.
[85] In January 2021, LitHub listed The Window Seat as one of the most anticipated books of 2021,[86] Harper's Magazine's reviewer wrote: "With this collection, she proves a compelling essayist too, her voice direct, lucid, and fearless.
"[87] The Boston Globe singled out Forna's "fine command over both language and life", also noting "her vivid, keenly observed anecdotes [which] make her tendency toward hope all the more reassuring.
"[91] The New York Times review commented that "Forna's ruminations are deeply felt yet unsentimental ... whose wide-ranging subjects chart a path toward a kind of freedom, to be at home, always elsewhere.