Official Interview: A. I. Alyaseer

[kandscreeley]

Good Afternoon fellow bibliophiles!

The time has come for another author interview. This time I got to talk to one of the authors of July's book of the month: My Trip to Adele.

If you'd like to peruse that forum before reading the interview here is the link: Discussion of My Trip to Adele.

To look at the official review click here: Official revew

Without any more fuss, let's dive right into the interview!

1. First of all, tell us a little bit more about yourself. What should we know about you?

We are siblings, Ahmad and Rana. I’m (Ahmad) a film / TV director. I directed lots of TV shows which are considered hits in my country (Jordan), including the most popular sitcom comedy (Asfoureyyeh) and the light comedy (Latt Wa Ajen).

Rana is an architect. She is a lecturer at a private university in Jordan. She wrote a book in architecture which is part of universities’ curriculum.

Together we wrote the award winning feature film When Time Becomes a Woman. We also wrote two novels in Arabic; neither of them got published. My Trip to Adele is our first novel to be published, more specifically self-published.

Now we are working on a feature film about death, and a 15-episode TV drama about relationships connected to each other through social media.

2. I have several questions about your book My Trip to Adele, so let's dive right into that. First, as the book was originally written in Arabic, how hard was it to translate into English? Also, was there anything that you
felt got lost in the translation?

It was a hard process, to pick the right translator and the right editor out of numerous options. Then to compare between the two versions, sometimes to add more description to match the original version. So if you read the two versions, one will notice that the English has more paragraphs that weren’t included in the Arabic version.

I don’t think anything got lost, but each version is interesting in its own way.

3. Can you share with us the reason that you couldn't find a publisher in Jordan? Were there aspects of the story that were too harsh? Did it have anything to do with Adele's music?

For My Trip to Adele, we didn’t even approach publishers to publish it in Arabic. For many reasons, one is; we felt it should be in English because Adele’s lyrics are in English, so it won’t be logical that the story is in Arabic and the lyrics in English.

4. Obviously Adele was a big part of the inspiration of this novel? How big of an Adele fan are you?

We are huge fans of her. We even got more attached to her music after her album 25. When we went to her concert, we didn’t know we will end up writing a novel inspired by it, but it was amazing. When we started writing the novel, we wanted something original to connect real time songs with a story, because everyone relates to songs and their lyrics. So we knew, if we did it right, people will love the idea.

5. Did you have any concerns about quoting her songs directly as part of your book?

Honestly, no. Our main intentions were to send Adele a copy.Sshe reads, she loves it, and then shares it with her fans. It was a very simple plan, but unfortunately it didn’t work. We tried to contact her representatives and management with no luck. That’s when we decided to publish it anyways so that we can generate word of mouth, and thus earn credibility when we approach them again. We did; it was a hassle. It took us a full year to get to her management, and sadly they denied giving us permit to use her lyrics. They also denied to send Adele a copy. So she didn’t read it, and maybe she didn’t hear about it, although we are sure if she does, she will like it and appreciate it. Now the novel is not available on any platforms!

Funny thing is, some people say we want to use her name to earn profit. Well, when we contacted her management, we said that we aren’t looking for profit, and if the novel gets any profit, they can take it all. We just want people to read it.

[Reviewer Note: I for one am sad that they didn't even consider the request nor did Adele get to see a copy.]

6. This book touches on a lot of important themes and topics including infidelity, abuse and child prostitution. Why these themes?

When we wrote the novel, we wanted to choose real stories, so it will be honest. So despite how harsh the topics are, they are real; they happened to real people we know. One of the stories is based on Rana’s story
herself.

7. Do you have any plans to turn this into a movie?

Are you serious! This would be a dream come true. I’m a director. I imagined every camera angle in my head. I imagined how to direct the emotions of the characters, how to differentiate between the visual style
of each separate story. I already directed it in my head at least ten times.

8. If you were to handpick actors/actresses to play your characters, who would they be?

I’m not sure who would fit for the characters, but I’m a big fan of Anne Hathaway and Nelly Karim.

9. Do you have any plans for any other books, possibly other artists?

We have already the synopsis of three books completely different than what we wrote, but will we write them? I’m not sure. I think we are done from the publishing industry, at least for now. We will focus more on TV and film. I honestly don’t have an energy left to get involved in marketing another book. It drains the soul.

10. Are there any other projects that you have worked on or are working on that you would like to promote here?

All the projects we worked on or are working on, are mentioned in the answer to the first question.

And now for some fun questions:

11. What's your favorite TV show? Movie?

TV show: Game of Thrones (This show sets new standards for TV drama.) The writer is great and fearless. We learnt from him how to take unpredictable measures and not get attached to our heroes too much.

I’m also a huge fan of Friends. I’ve watched it at least 100 times, and I always laugh.

Movies: A very hard question especially for a filmmaker; I would say it’s not one favorite, but many. The list has at least twenty films, of those; Before Midnight, Boyhood, The Dark Knight, Avatar, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Network, Spirited Away.

12. If you could pick any one person living or dead to have lunch with, who would it be?

Definitely Adele, we want her to read the novel.

13. What's your favorite color?

Black and White.

14. You are driving in a car. Do you have the radio on or off?

On most of the times.

As a side note, I really enjoyed this interview. I think it's great that they got their book out there if only for a short period of time. I'm sorry that their dreams did not come true completely, but I hope that they keep trying. Maybe one day, Adele will still read this book! Until then, I guess we'll have to all wait for their next project and encourage them to continue on!

Thanks for reading!

[Manang Muyang]

I am deeply saddened that Adele did not get to at least see the book. More sad that the book has been banned because of the "plagiarism" issue. Most sad that the siblings seem to have lost the energy and inspiration to write again.

I wish we could do something to reach Adele. Maybe a barrage of messages to her facebook or twitter page will help. If I were Adele, I would be deeply honored with the book.

[Kalin Adi]

I totally agree with his taste on movies. They are awesome! Totally my style! Too bad about the banning, but I think they'll recover, for they have talent.

[kandscreeley]

@Miriam Molina - I agree completely. It does seem like they had pure motives and got shot down. So now they are just unenthusiastic about writing again. It's really too bad.

[bookowlie]

What an interesting interview! I am very sad to hear the book was ultimately banned and the reasons why.

[kandscreeley]

Bookowlie- I understand both perspectives. However, it's not like the authors were hurting anyone by the use of their lyrics. They weren't about the money. They just really wanted to give tribute to Adele. It's sad that this has caused their enthusiasm to wane, though.

[GPM]

Their answers were wonderful. Also, their achievements are something to be proud of.

[kandscreeley]

I agree gpm. They shouldn't be discouraged. They've accomplished so much.

[Gingerbo0ks]

I saw the plagiarism thing coming, it was only a matter of time. But it's such a shame, and it's quite infuriating and unfair that Adele's people wouldn't even consider the book.

[kandscreeley]

Gingerbooks- it's just sad that they aren't out to get rich off using the lyrics. They were trying to honor her.

[0721397657]

having the book banned was not a fair deal at all, these is someone able to pick pieces of a broken pot and mend the most beautiful pot, am sure the potter would be mesmerised too

[Doaa Wael]

Lovely interview. It is beautiful that you united with your sister to create a work of art. I wish you both best of luck. I am sorry Adele didn't get to see it, but a word of mouth might reach her, a Twitter mention or such. I am glad you decided to publish it anyway.

I am also a huge fan of friends. I enjoyed reading this interview. Thank you!