Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel is a novelist from Equatorial Guinea, who writes mostly about social, political and economic ineqality in his country and in Africa more widely. His latest novel By Night the Mountain Burns (translated into English by Jethro Soutar) is shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the winner of which will be announced on Wednesday. What was the first book to make an impression on you? I was very attracted to books as a child and so I vividly remember the ones that first thrilled and captivated me - the holy books! For a long time after learning to read, The Bible and The Missal were the only books we had in the house, so that’s what I read. By Night the...
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