The Somali-born writer talks about her Booker-shortlisted novel, the story of a victim of a miscarriage of justice in 1950s Cardiff, ‘broken hearts syndrome’ and her love of John Donne
Recently shortlisted for the 2021 Booker prize, Nadifa Mohamed’s third novel, The Fortune Men, is a fictionalised retelling of the story of Somali seaman Mahmood Mattan, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in Cardiff in 1952. Born in Hargeisa in 1981, Mohamed is the first British-Somali author to feature in the Booker shortlist. Her two previous novels, Black Mamba Boy (2010) and The Orchard of Lost Souls (2013), won the Betty Trask and Somerset Maugham awards.
What were you doing when you found out you had been shortlisted for the Booker prize?
I was at my mum’s – I’m one of her carers. I received a call from my editor and she was like, great news! We did a quick dance and then it was back to Mum’s needs.