Produced by Independent Ignite
Project Manager: Lauren Sandiford
Words: Tim Cummings
Senior designer: Loraine Fajutag
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“It's great that you can write with the S Pen. And it’s got some lovely apps,” says Hafsa. Her favourite? “The one where you have a lined page of paper and you can just start writing on it. If I’m struck by something – the rain on the pavement, a break in the clouds, something I find beautiful this time of year – I can take a quick snap of it and then put that photo on a written page and annotate it, and add the phrases that came to mind when I first saw it. Then I can build up from there.”
Who knows, perhaps that next annotation may build up to another novel that sheds life and light on sides of culture that we don’t see often enough. “The thing I love the most,” says Zayyan of her book, “is to have people saying, ‘Thank you for writing our story, I’ve never seen it written before’. It’s been amazing.”
For writers like Hafsa, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G is a gamechanging piece of kit. From the ultra-handy S Pen, to the slim, sturdy Book Cover which provides a handy keyboard and tablet protector in one. While with 5G connectivity, and 13 hours of battery life, it's perfect for capturing moments of inspiration on the go.
Hafsa uses her Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G to capture inspiration wherever she is. “If I’m struck by something – the rain on the pavement, a break in the clouds – I can take a quick snap and annotate it, and add the phrases that came to mind when I first saw it. Then I can build up from there.”
As well as drawing on her husband’s family and cultural history, Hafsa also has her own West African and Pakistani heritage to pull from, along with an itinerant upbringing that saw her go through 12 different schools in the UK, Saudi Arabia and the United States. “I knew how to make friends and how to say goodbye to people,” she says. “It was a scattered upbringing but I became very adaptable. I was happy in new situations and adapting.”
Now, as an acclaimed novelist, a new mother, and a high-flying legal eagle, Hafsa draws on the versatility and adaptability of her Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G, which has become a constant companion, helping her to jot down inspiration as it strikes her, building up a literary sketchbook of images, details and feelings she can use in her writing. “I use a Samsung phone,” she says, “so it’s literally just my phone blown up, which is great. It integrates perfectly.”
Being a tablet, it’s light enough – at 608 grammes – to carry with her wherever she is, while its 12.4in screen employs the same technology Samsung uses for its high-end smartphones, and for a dedicated Samsung user like Hafsa, once you’re used to that high-resolution richness of detail, with all those vibrant colours, you can’t settle for second best. Best of all, both Samsung phone and tablet work perfectly together, effortlessly threading your life across the two devices.
“I always have my phone with me,” says Hafsa, “and if I take notes on that, whether I’m inspired on the Tube or bus or by a conversation, it’s just auto-synced to the tablet, so later I can further elaborate on the bigger screen. And I love that.”
For writers like Hafsa, it’s got plenty to keep them hooked. Not only does it come with the ultra-handy S Pen, but the slim, sturdy Book Cover means you’ve got a very handy keyboard and tablet protector in one. And with 5G connectivity, and with up to 13 hours of battery life, it provides the perfect mobile platform for preserving those fleeting flashes of inspiration that punctuate a writer’s day, as and when they happen.
"It's great that you can write with the S pen. If I'm struck by anything I can start writing."
HAfsa zayyan
As well as taking on the somewhat daunting challenge of expanding a few thousands words into a novel, Hafsa had to wrap all her writing around her legal work. But perhaps unsurprisingly given her prior achievements, she took it all in her stride. “A lot of weekends and early mornings and late nights,” she says of her regimen at the time.
Part of what drove her own was the knowledge that she was bringing to life a narrative that hadn’t been uncovered, drawing together her own experiences and those of her husband and his family. “The competition’s tagline was to tell stories that haven’t been told,” she explains, “so I had a brainstorm with my husband, who is a Ugandan second-generation Asian immigrant. I was saying I’d like to write something about refugees, and he said ‘My family were refugees, and their story hasn’t really been told’. And he was right.”
Set in 1960s Uganda and present-day London, We Are All Birds of Uganda follows two narratives – that of Hasan, struggling with his business and the death of his wife, just as a dangerous new regime seizes power in Uganda; while six decades later, a high-flying young lawyer named Sameer is called back from London to Uganda by an unexpected tragedy, where he is drawn into a past he never knew. “We had so many angles and themes,” says Hafsa, “which is something dear to me as a mixed identity second-generation immigrant myself. But without the Merky Prize, I wouldn’t have written the story.”
Hafsa's second career as a novelist came about through her love for Stormzy's music. “I really do like writing, and I loved Stormzy’s music and I was following him on social media. And because of him, I entered this specific competition with a few thousand words. The next thing I knew I’d been selected as the winner, so I went on to write the novel from there.”
From lawyer to novelist – truly doing it all
Should you find yourself in a tricky dispute that needs arbitrating, you’d want to turn to someone with the strength, intelligence, power and insight to resolve and dissolve whatever those troubles were. That’s why so many clients seek out London-based dispute resolution lawyer Hafsa Zayyan, to build a bridge over troubled waters. But resolving other people’s disputes is only half the story when it comes to Hafsa’s achievements. Maybe not even half.
After studying Law at Cambridge and completing her masters' degree Oxford, she began her legal career, and now works as a senior associate in a top London from. Yet somehow, around a seriously demanding day job, she has found the time and energy to write debut novel 'We Are All Birds of Uganda', published by Stormzy’s #Merky Books after Hafsa won the imprint’s inaugural #Merky Books New Writers' Prize in 2019.
“It was a side project I’ve done alongside the legal career,” she says. “It came about as as a result of Stormzy’s competition. I really do like writing, and I loved Stormzy’s music and I was following him on social media. And what he was doing. And because of him, I entered this specific competition with a few thousand words. The next thing I knew I’d been selected as the winner, so I went on to write the novel from there.”
Lawyer, writer and new mum Hafsa Zayyan reveals all about her debut novel, the true stories behind it, and the secret to managing two high profile careers and staying inspired
INSPIRING journeys
“Tech allows me to capture moments of inspiration and build from there”
Produced by Independent Ignite
Project Manager: Lauren Sandiford
Words: Tim Cummings
Senior designer: Loraine Fajutag
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