LIBERIAN AUTHOR Vamba Sherif "I was born in Kolahun, a forest town in the far north of Liberia. My childhood was spent in that town with one foot constantly in the world of books, and the other in the harsh reality of life in the hinterland. I cannot say that my childhood was a difficult one, but cannot describe it as idyllic either. I lived my life in the protection of a large African family, but this life had its own downside, for specific attention was not paid to each child but to a bunch of children. Talents, therefore, often went unnoticed, but not in all cases. Some talents, despite all the difficulties, were noticed and nurtured by the family . . . "I fled the war in Kuwait, the first Gulf War, and because my country Liberia was at war, I sought refuge in the Netherlands. In all secrecy, I worked on my first novel. At a certain point, I felt that my writing was going nowhere, that I was searching for light in a dark tunnel of insecurity and lack of confidence. I was stuck. That’s when I put the novel aside and tried my hands at writing short stories. With one of them, Faces, I realised that I had found my voice. I sent a collection of those stories to a Dutch publishing house, and a week later the publisher called me to discuss the possibility of publishing them. I told him about my novel, which he was anxious to read. He read it in two days and called me to suggest that we publish the novel first. The novel was published to critical and commercial success. "There was no point in my life when I decided to be a writer. Since childhood I’ve been fascinated with the world of literature. The possibility of words leave me enthralled. No medium in the world, except in some cases music, has the power to subdue me and make me more grateful to be alive than literature. It grasps me by the senses, and all I can do is shout with joy or shed tears. Literature leaves me speechless, heartbroken. Sometimes a scene, and not the whole novel, a sentence, and not a chapter, strikes me like a thunderbolt; or it carries me on sensual wings toward pleasures and pains unimaginable." Site Map