Ahmed Ismail Yusuf moved to the Midwest from Somalia 20 years ago. Raised as a nomadic herder in a culture with a strong oral tradition, the first book he read in any language was Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings with the help of a Somali-English dictionary. After recognizing the power of books, he became a writer. His newest collection of short stories, The Lion’s Binding Oath, brings us to Somalia, reminding us how books can bridge worlds. Yusuf is currently on a Midwest book tour, and will read from The Lion’s Binding Oath at A Room of One’s Own on June 13.
The Lion’s Binding Oath is also the name of the last story in your collection. Why did you choose that title?
Actually, I have to admit the fact that I did not choose that title! I would have picked “A Delicate Hope” [the name of the collection’s penultimate story], but I was over the moon when I heard that The Lion’s Binding Oath would be the title. I said, “That is it!” It’s illuminating. You are immediately able to recognize that this may be an African writer.
What is the lion’s binding oath?
Lions have this kind of myth around them. They are actually totally extinct from Somalia now, but I can tell you the stories that my mother told me. I was told that lions can have a communication with men. If [a lion] sees a man, and scratches its paw to mark the land three times, the man can follow it with the same. [Then] there is a binding oath between the two, and they will protect each other.
In your interview with your publisher, Catalyst Press, you said that your former professor and writing teacher Frank Pfeil “awakened in you the courage to write.” What does that mean?
Well, everything. Growing up in a community and society where word of mouth is revered, I wanted to transfer that into written material. Even though I didn’t know much about books, somehow or another I had the idea that books were more powerful than the oral tradition. Writing was a foreign concept to me. Somehow I had conceived some kind of idea that the power of humanity itself was manifested in writing. And I realized how important a book and written words in general are.
A majority of people are not even aware of the thirst and the need that some people around the world actually have for this kind of an opportunity. [Writing] bridges the gap between two humanities, between two different worlds. Someone who is on the top of a mountain in Somalia is all of a sudden transplanted into the U.S.
What do you hope readers will take away from reading your book?
I would like people to know that Somalis were not always in perpetual war. I would like them to know that we suffer from elements of social disorder, and elements of social disorder are far different from war. Through language, we can actually communicate about pain and about pleasure as well, so you can actually sense that my soul can have the same emotions you have.
