City and country, reality and myth, Africa and Europe: the German-Nigerian author Efua Traoré is a mediator between the worlds – now, after England, Nigeria, France and the USA, her debut youth book is also being published in Germany.
It was three years ago that a German publisher showed great interest in publishing the young adult novel “The Children of Quicksand.” “But when I explained that the young adult book was set in Nigeria, the answer was negative: ‘Nigeria is quite far away!'” Is it very far away as an obstacle? Efua Traoré shakes her head with her many braids incomprehensibly when meeting in a Munich city center cafe. “As a child, there was nothing more exciting for me than going far away with books, experiencing adventures in other countries and other cultures, I read everything I could get my hands on,” she says.