Aminatta Forna
Aminatta Forna OBE was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and raised in the UK and Sierra Leone. She is the award-winning author of three novels, The Hired Man, The Memory of Love and Ancestor Stones, and the memoir The Devil That Danced on the Water. Forna is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has acted as a judge for numerous literary awards, including the Man Booker International Prize. In 2002, Forna established the Rogbonko Project, which works to improve education, sanitation and maternal health in Sierra Leone. She was made OBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours 2017.