Interview With Author Patrick Asare
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in a small Ghanaian village called Boadua to two illiterate parents. My
parents were poor, and feeding and clothing me and my thirteen siblings was always a
huge challenge for them. Pretty much all parents in the village were illiterate so growing
up, there wasn’t much expectation as far as education was concerned. At best children
received up to a middle school education and that was it. They went on to work either as
subsistence farmers, or found some other low-skilled jobs. One day, when I was about
ten years old and having just started learning to read, I picked up a scrap of newspaper
on the ground and read something on it that would completely change the course of my
life. I learned about an elite secondary school in the capital, Accra, that educated the
children of the country’s elite. Students went from this school to Oxford and Cambridge
Universities in England, and returned to serve as prime ministers, ministers of state,
ambassadors, university professors, etc. Completely oblivious to the fact that my socio-
economic status pretty much disqualified me from even entertaining the thought, I
resolved to find my way to the school, with the goal of someday becoming one of those
influential people in the country. After studying tremendously hard and making
numerous sacrifices over a couple of years, I got admitted to the school, only to find out
that my parents didn’t have the money to pay the tuition. That was supposed to be the
end of my education. However, a series of lucky breaks got me into a less prestigious
secondary school. After secondary school, I hit another financial roadblock but then got
another lucky break to attend university in the Soviet Union on a scholarship during the
perestroika years. I immigrated to America after graduating from the Soviet Union. I
just published my first book.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My memoir, which is my first book, is titled The Boy from Boadua: One African’s
Journey of Hunger and Sacrifice in Pursuit of a Dream. Not long after I arrived in
America, I was hired to teach Russian and math in the Buffalo, NY public school system.
I immediately came face-to-face with all of the problems that combine to cause the
dysfunction in urban school districts that we constantly read and hear about—poverty,
racial segregation, rampant indiscipline leading to chaos in classrooms, broken homes,
parental absenteeism, etc. As a new immigrant, I had little understanding of the
underlying causes. I had grown up in a desolate village with little in terms of educational
resources but had managed to find my way from there to those classrooms in Buffalo.
The schools in Buffalo looked impressively well-equipped, relative to what I had growing
up in Boadua, so I was astounded by what I thought were large numbers of children
wasting glorious opportunities to become educated. It was a rude awakening that set me
on another journey of discovery to try to understand what inspired the students to
behave the way they did.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I think I am a pretty conventional writer. My writing ideas tend to come to me quite
randomly, which I suppose is the case with most writers. What I hate most is when I
wake up in the middle of the night and some good thought comes to mind. Because of
the fear that I will forget something if I don’t write it down right away, I am often forced
to get out of bed and grab my notebook to record it. Sometimes I have great difficulty
going back to sleep after that.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Robert Browning’s The Pied Piper of Hamelin,
and Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.
What are you working on now?
I have nothing in the pipeline at the moment. Writing this book over the last ten
years while also working full time left me little time for reading. I am taking a bit of a
break to catch up on the large pile of books and other reading material I have
accumulated in the last several years.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The best website is https://patrickasareauthor.com
Do you have any advice for new authors?
One piece of advice I have for any new author is to be patient. Writing is something that
cannot be forced or rushed. I found myself having to let the manuscript sit for
weeks—sometimes months—at a time because I was either mentally exhausted or had
run out of ideas. But perhaps the most important advice for any new author is to have a
heavy dose of humility and be open to criticism. Listening to constructive criticism and
heeding whatever advice comes out of it is an essential part of any writer’s life.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
When I had my first major setback as a young boy, having to let go of my dream of
attending an elite boarding school, a feeling of resignation began to set in for me. My
father told me at that point that life could be cruel at times, but that I should stay
positive, keep my head down and continue to do the absolute best I could in every
situation. I have recalled that advice numerous times, whenever I hit some type of bump
in the road, and it has always served me extremely well.
What are you reading now?
Endurance, by Alfred Lansing.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I think my next project will be a novel. I have a rough idea about a work of historical
fiction that I want to pursue but it’s just a thought for now.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, Dante Alighieri’s
Inferno.
Author Websites and Profiles
Patrick Asare Author Profile on Smashwords
Patrick Asare’s Social Media Links