Aminatta Forna is a writer and author of The Devil that Danced on the Water (HarperCollins), a memoir of her dissident father. Her most recent book Ancestor Stones (Bloomsbury), a novel, was published in July 2006 and tells the story of the lives of four sisters, daughters of a wealthy West African plantation owner.
Published in 2002, The Devil that Danced on the Water was runner-up for the Samuel Johnson Prize 2003 serialised as Book of the Week on BBC Radio and extracted in the Sunday Times newspaper in the UK. In the US it was selected for the Barnes & Noble new writers Discovery series. Aminatta returned to Sierra Leone to film a documentary series Africa Unmasked, which examined many of the themes of her recent book. The series aired on Channel 4 in November 2002.
A former BBC reporter, she reported and presented on various politics, current affairs and arts programmes between 1989 and 1999. She is a contributor to several newspapers including the Independent, Observer, Sunday Times and Evening Standard. She has acted as a judge for the MacMillan African Writer’s Prize in 2003, the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2004 and the Caine Prize for Africa 2005 and 2006. She sits on the board of the Caine Prize and also Index on Censorship.
