Forna was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1964 to a Sierra Leonean
father, Mohamed Forna, and a Scottish mother, Maureen Christison.
When Forna was six months old the family travelled to Sierra Leone,
where Mohamed Forna worked as a physician. He later became
involved in politics and entered government, only to resign citing a
growth in political violence and corruption. Between 1970 and 1973
he was imprisoned and declared an Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience.
Mohamed Forna was hanged on charges of treason in 1975. The
events of Forna's childhood and her investigation into the conspiracy
surrounding her father's death are the subject of the memoir The Devil
that Danced on the Water.
Forna studied law at University College London and was a Harkness
Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2013 she assumed
a post as Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.
Between 1989 and 1999 Forna worked for the BBC, both in radio and
television, as a reporter and documentary maker in the spheres of arts
and politics. She is also known for her Africa documentaries: Through
African Eyes (1995), Africa Unmasked (2002) and The Lost Libraries
of Timbuktu (2009). Forna is also a board member of the Royal
National Theatre and a judge for the The Man Booker International
Prize 2013.
Aminatta Forna is married to the furniture designer Simon Westcott
and lives in south-east London.
Forna was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1964 to a Sierra Leonean
father, Mohamed Forna, and a Scottish mother, Maureen Christison.
When Forna was six months old the family travelled to Sierra Leone,
where Mohamed Forna worked as a physician. He later became
involved in politics and entered government, only to resign citing a
growth in political violence and corruption. Between 1970 and 1973
he was imprisoned and declared an Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience.
Mohamed Forna was hanged on charges of treason in 1975. The
events of Forna's childhood and her investigation into the conspiracy
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Le portrait magazine