Mohamed Abdi is a Somali-Canadian Writer with a Bachelor’s
Degree in Communication Studies. He loves to read mystery and historical
fiction novels and has written articles for both online and print magazines.
Mohamed lives in Edmonton with his wife and children.
Hal
J. Friesen: Did the EPL
play a significant role in your own immersion into Canadian culture?
Mohamed
Abdi: Absolutely. Edmonton Public
Library has played a significant role in my broad understanding of Canadian
culture and enabled me to immerse myself into the culture. This comes in the
form of reading different books written by diversified authors, and I have realized
that much of Canadian culture is built on readership and connection with
libraries. In fact, I have been partly acculturated as I like to read and
borrow books from the Edmonton public library. And readership culture is
created and promoted by individual societies.
HJF: When did you make the decision to start writing in English, and why is it so important to you?
MA: My
university studies exposed me to writing opportunity, through essays, etc. As a
result, I have developed a passion for reading and writing in English. I wrote
my first English book in 2004. This was a non-fiction book, which touched on
Somalis' plight and their displacement after the civil war of 1991. I published
my second English book in 2012. This was a collection of fictitious, short
stories about Somalis' predicament and their complicated conditions in various
places of the world. I think it is so important to me to write in English, for
English has become a universal language whose written materials and literature
can be comparatively accessed by many people. So by writing in English, I can
reach out to a wider audience.
HJF: What advice would you give to other Non-Native English
speakers trying to make their voices heard in English?
MA: My advice to Non-Native English speakers is to
read as many books as possible, and to start putting your ink on paper and
write things you have passion for, or concerned about, in other words. And you
must know that your writing skill will not come overnight, but it has to start
somewhere and grow gradually. So let you start somewhere and develop your
writing skills onward.
HJF: Who has inspired you as a writer?
MA: Somalia's civil war has inspired me to become a
writer. In fact, the insanity of that sinister civil war has set my mind into
motion and compelled me to find responses as to why people wreck each other and
take their countries apart. Why blood is spilled? Why children are orphaned?
Why women are widowed? Are there alternate means of reconciling and
resolving conflicts before resorting to the barrel of the gun?
HJF: What is your next writing project? Can you tell us
a little about it?
MA: I am
now working on a novel (historical fiction) about Somalia, but don't know how
it will turn out or where this journey will take me, but I am determined to
unleash my imagination and hone my skills for this project.
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