By: Gail Nyoka
Below is an essay by author Gail Nyoka about a trip that she took to Egypt to escape her grief and research her novel. Traveling not only provides an escape from your daily life and problems, but it also clears the mind and opens it to creative thought. Hopefully, her experience inspires her fellow writers to do the same one day.
“Would you like to marry my son?”
I had gone into a store in Luxor to buy a bottle of water. In the hot sun of Egypt, it was easy to get dehydrated – something I wished to avoid, having had the unpleasant experience a couple days earlier. The man must have been, perhaps, ten years older than I, and his son appeared to be fifteen years my junior. The son, whose name I didn’t know and didn’t ask for, looked at me hopefully, as did his father. Both were disappointed when I dismissed the enquiry quickly: “He’s too young for me.”
I was so stunned by the question, I stammered out the first thing that came into my mind. And in truth, I was still mourning the loss of my fiancé, who had died the year before.
Why was I in Egypt?
My fiancé and I had planned to go. We both loved the stories and philosophy of those ancient people from the land that they probably knew as Kemet, the Black Land. We can’t know for sure what the people called their country. The hieroglyphs only give us the consonants: KMT.
I had another reason for the journey. I was doing research for my book, Star’s Reflection, which I knew I would set in an ancient Egyptian temple dedicated to the goddess Hathor – Hathor being the Greek name for the goddess I name Het Heru in my novel. Again, we cannot be absolutely certain of the name given to her by those ancient people, but Het Heru is one that is sometimes used.
In Egypt, I visited several sites of ancient temples, including the temple to Hathor at Dendera. The ancients would periodically rebuild their temples, using the stones from the previous temple on the site. So, although the temple at Dendera is ‘newer’ than the time in which I set my story, it is situated where an older temple once stood. I stood in the temples, and examined the places where paint still adorned the walls after so many thousand years. Then, I looked at the inscriptions, and the layout, and I took in the feel of the buildings. I visited museums, taking notes and making drawings of objects that were used in ancient times.
From the window of the train to Luxor…
and in the countryside, I saw scenes that would have changed little in hundreds, if not thousands, of years: a man with a donkey, women washing rugs in a river channel, sailing boats on the waters of the Nile. I wanted to see and feel the landscape, the plants and the temples; and infuse my novel with the pictures and feelings I experienced. And I wanted to convey an understanding of the joy in life that the ancients valued; especially through Hathor, revered as the embodiment of dance, love and joy. I put these things into my novel, and I put into the story a very special person: the character of Sennedjem was based on my late fiancé, Brian, albeit a younger version in a different land and a different time.
And what of my would-be husband in Luxor? I sometimes wonder how he fared in his search for a foreign wife.
Bio
Gail Nyoka is the author of the YA novel, Star’s Reflection. Her previous novel, Mella and the N’anga: An African Tale, was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and others in Canada and the US.
Gail is also an award-winning playwright. Most recently, her play, The Oba Asks for a Mountain, was staged at Talespinner Children’s Theatre in Cleveland. As a storyteller, she has appeared at storytelling events in Britain, Canada and the USA.
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Star’s Reflection is also available as an audio book.
Gail’s website.
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I enjoyed this piece, having lived in Egypt I understand the quirks and wonders Gail ran into as she enjoyed its fascinating landscape that just draws you in. Many people feel a connection to this place, and I hope the energy she came away from it with turns her new novel into a beautiful and successful work of art.
Me too. Thanks for reading!