Revisiting Some Old Words

This evening I will be interviewing an old friend. Hibo Wardere is the author of CUT: One Woman’s Fight Against FGM in Britain Today, a book that I ghosted back in 2016.

It was only the second book that I had ever written and it went on to receive critical acclaim and was nominated for The Orwell Prize — Britain’s biggest political writing prize.

(Don’t you think the cover looks very similar to Knife by Salman Rushdie?)

I will be interviewing Hibo during a talk online for a women’s rights group, if you are a member you will know about this talk this evening and I will see you there. And in preparation for this talk I decided to read CUT again, after all it has been eight years since I last read it.

I was cringing inwardly as I turned the first page, aware of the years between me and the words I had committed to paper then on Hibo’s behalf, aware that since then I have gone on to write many, many more books, I have done a master’s degree in creative writing, I have finished and publish…