Today we are joined by Ken Weene and Deng Atem, - a co-writing team who are here to share some of the interesting behind the scenes aspects in collaborating on their book. For those of you who feel you've heard Ken's name before... you have - we featured his poetry back in November :) Ken and I first connected back in March '22 after meeting in the Facebook group: Authors Supporting Authors. Since then we have gotten to know each other fairly well. Ken co-hosts of the On The Brink podcast & the Writing Chats & Friends podcast. Ken has published numerous novels, plays, and short stories - and he can be found @:
http://www.kennethweene.com ; drop into Amazon to find his books.
Deng Atem, who was born in South Sudan and currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona (US) where he obtained both a bachelor and a MBA. Helping immigrants is very important to Deng and he touches many lives as the Executive Director of the non-profit: South Sudan Twic Mayardit Community of Arizona. Drop by Amazon to find their book Jumping Over The Ram.
World of Writing - Author Interview
Q: First, let's start off by learning how the two of you became co-authors. Could you share a little about how this came about?
Ken: I was one of the coordinators of a writing group in Phoenix, Arizona. Deng came to one of our meetings looking for somebody to help him write his story. I liked him and was fascinated by what he shared.
Deng: I thought I could get somebody who would help me. Mr. Weene agreed to help me with write my memoir and we will share the book’s royalties as coauthors, Anyway, we started meeting to work on my story and mostly at his house.
Ken: At first we were meeting at a coffee shop and then, once we got to know one another, in my home. We kept working away for about a year to get the first draft done. Which, I have to add, was very different from the finished product.
Q: What do you mean?
Deng has had a fascinating life. In fact, I think he and I could write at least two more memoirs based on it. One would be about being an African in America. This would include how blacks are treated here and how Africans and Black Americans interact. It could also include how being a “Lost Boy of Sudan” affected Deng’s opportunities and experiences here, in some ways to help him and in other ways to harm.
The second would be how he strives to lead the South Sudanese diaspora towards unity and to help the political development of his homeland. Those are both important stories that will teach meaningful lessons to their readers. Jumping Over the Ram is about Deng’s search for personal meaning and self-definition in the face of incredible odds and harrowing events. If we were to combine all three topics into an autobiography, the lessons would be lost. The impact would be diluted.
That first version became messy and lost impact because we were trying to deal with all three of those aspects of Deng’s life at once. Fortunately, Deng’s friend Anderson Cooper sent a draft to his editor who recommended we rethink. He was absolutely correct.
Deng: By the way, Anderson was kind enough to write a short foreword for the book. He and I had met when I was a teenager and in a camp in Kenya. He and another journalist, Jesper Strudsholm, visited the camp. I was fortunate to meet them. That encounter became a major motivation in my life. I now publish a magazine for the people of the South Sudanese diaspora; it is called Ramciel Magazine. Ken helps edit it. I guess that would be part of one of those other memoirs he mentioned.
Q: So, you were a refugee in Kenya? Is that where the story takes place?
Deng: In part. It starts in my home village, includes my travelling the length of what is now South Sudan to get to Ethiopia. I was a refugee in Ethiopia for some time and was at two refugee camps. Then, we fled from Ethiopia and there was a fight with the Ethiopian soldiers. Some of us managed to get to safety in Sudan—South Sudan wasn’t a separate country then—where I was a displaced person.
Ken: In case you don’t know, refugee is a term for somebody who has sought safety in a different country and a displaced person is one who is outside their home but still in their homeland and seeking safety.
Deng: When I was in Sudan, there was another battle, this time with Sudanese fighters trying to stop us from becoming a separate nation. After that many of us fled to Kenya. From Kenya I eventually was fortunate to get to the United States, which was both a great joy and the beginning of many new challenges.
Ken: Deng finished high school, went to college, and earned an M.B.A. in Arizona. Quite an accomplishment for a boy who started out herding his father’s goats and cows back in a village where almost nobody could read or write.
Q: It sounds like an exciting story! Deng how old were you when you became a soldier?
Deng: That’s part of the story, but it wasn’t as simple as just becoming a soldier. I think you need to read the book to understand the whole timeline.
Ken: What is a soldier? I mean, yes, Deng learned to use a gun and yes, he learned how to serve in a military structure, but he also learned something else, something that was—to my mind—much more important and challenging: how to deal with death, with the death of those whom you care about and who care for you. Jumping Over the Ram is the story of a youngster who chose to go on, to find his own way, to define himself. Once you read it and get to know my friend here you will have learned something about the human spirit. That’s what a memoir should always be about, what it should teach us.
Q: What is the meaning of the title: Jumping Over the Ram?
Deng: I’m from the Dinka Tribe, which is one of the tribes in South Sudan, in fact the largest tribe. Like all tribes we have traditions and rituals. Most of them are based on the religious beliefs of our people. When one returns to one’s village after a long absence, there are rituals to keep bad fortune from following you back into your home.
When I was finally able to go back home and visit my father and the rest of my family, I was expected to jump over a ram before greeting them. Even though I had been gone a long time and had converted to Christianity, I respected the ways and traditions of my people.
Ken: One of the things I most enjoyed in working with Deng was learning so much about the Dinka and, while not as much, about the other tribes and cultures of the region. One of the fascinating things for me was realizing that calling Deng and his peers “Lost Boys” was really a misnomer. They were never lost. They knew not only where they were but also where they had come from and where they wanted to be in the end, in an independent South Sudan.
Q: What do you hope readers will get out of Jumping Over The Ram?
Deng: I want my fellow South Sudanese to read it, those at home and those in diaspora. It is important for them to understand how our country came to be and what went on over those years. It isn’t that I was so important a part of things, but it is our shared history.
I’d also like America students to read the story—and students in other countries as well—so they can better understand Africa and especially my homeland. I think that high school and college students will find it interesting.
I also hope that when other people read my memoir, they will understand modern Africa, the aftermath of colonialism and the changes that are going on in that continent.
Ken: Most of all, I hope people who enjoy reading a good book, one that keeps them entertained and from which they can learn more about being human, will get themselves a copy of Jumping Over The Ram.
Q: This has been a fascinating discussion with the two of you and I certainly appreciate the time and thought you put into your responses. I'm sure the readers will be intrigued as well. Is there anything else you'd like to add before we close out today's interview?
Deng: Well, first of all, I want to mention our publisher, All Things That Matter Press, and our editor C. Christy White. Jumping Over the Ram is available on Amazon in both print and Kindle.
Thank you Ken & Deng for dropping in to share some of your writing experiences :)
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