Author Interview

This interview was first published on the Legend Press website at www.legendpress.co.uk

Tea at the Grand Tazi is published on 1st March. Below is a short interview with Alexandra so you can get to learn a bit more about her and her writing:

1) Described your novel in a couple of sentences?

'Tea at the Grand Tazi' is a story of expatriates, of experience and of indolent days under the North African sun. It describes a plunge from restless innocence into corruption and explores what it means to be a woman in an alien and hostile environment.

2) How, when and why did you first start writing?

I started writing young; it is a compulsion that I could not do without. However, I did not start to write seriously with the intention of finishing a novel until 2007 when a theme grabbed me and would not let go. For me, writing is not just the desire to tell a story, it is a need to explore certain issues in society and in the subconscious which I cannot find an answer to in any other way. I am probably over sensitive to emotions and am fascinated by the psyche; essentially writing is an exploration of the human condition. When I awoke from a long coma in 2008 I taught myself to physically write again and as I wrote the world of the Grand Tazi came alive for me.

3) Who are your favourite writers/influences and why?

The writer I admire most is Graham Greene; his sparseness of style and his dry irony create such a hold over the imagination. 'Travels with my Aunt' was written for entertainment, yet it also contains some profound truths, whilst 'The Quiet American' was an attack on American policy in Vietnam and 'The Comedians' on the dictatorship in Haiti remains unparalleled as a satire. Strongly influenced by his Catholicism, Greene explored social and political issues through his characters and this is something very few novelists manage to do successfully. I also adore the work of Alberto Moravia, particularly 'Contempt' and 'The Woman of Rome'. He was another political writer, a half Jewish, anti- fascist novelist from Rome. Much of Moravia's work describes the loucheness of life in Rome and as I used to live there the city he describes causes me great nostalgia. Although a literary writer, he was incredibly popular and his novels form the bedrock of Italian and European cinema as they were made into films by Vittorio de Sica and Jean Luc Goddard (Le Mepris/Contempt). I also adore Anais Nin. It is a shame that people know of her only for the erotica she wrote for money as she was a fascinating writer, a friend of influential artists and psychotherapists and her literary work, such as 'Seduction of the Minotaur' so accurately describes female emotions.

4) What inspires you to write?

It may be a place, a character, a situation or a memory but it is always something that nags at me until I firmly decide to write about it.

5) Where do you get your ideas from?

It amazes me when authors are asked this question as ideas are so obviously everywhere- the people and situations which can be written about are endless. Someone would have to have a total lack of imagination to wonder how authors get their ideas; they are everywhere, there is too much. It is harder to narrow ideas down than to find them. I start with theme and place, and then as the characters develop they tell me where they want to go.