Story & Photos by Suman Shrestha
Tunde Farrand has just published for first novel, ‘Wolf Country’ – a work of dystopian fiction. She moved to the UK from Hungary and settled in Sheffield twelve years ago. She has an MA in creative writing from Sheffield Hallam University and works as a language specialist and modern language teacher. She has successfully run creative writing workshops in Burngreave.
When did you start writing?
Although I have always had a love of literature and storytelling, I never had any concrete plans and didn’t think seriously about writing until the idea of Wolf Country came to me.
What is the significance of the title?
The wolf symbolises the predatory nature of those who control the society in which the book is set. It’s a near future world in which citizens monthly spending determines their social class and those who can’t consume any more face compulsory euthanasia.
What was the inspiration for the story?
The inspiration was the ever increasing inequality in our current society and the damage caused by over-the-top consumerism and savage capitalism. In my opinion we’re closer to the world described in the book than we realise.
What do you think makes a good story?
I personally can’t imagine a good story without fluency. I wanted to bring the message across in Wolf Country but never at the expense of the storyline which I aimed to keep original and gripping.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
I meant it as a warning, to show where we might end up. I hope everyone who reads Wolf Country will stop for a minute and see our hectic, money-chasing lifestyle for what it is. See our government for what it is. See what all this does to people, to their relationships, through the characters around which the drama unfolds.
What were the key challenges you faced writing this book?
One of them is that I wrote it in a foreign language. It made it much slower and more tiring for me. The other is that it’s my first novel so despite having a fairly clear idea of the social message and the storyline, I had to learn the skills as I went. I worked on it for five years, out of which two years were full time, every day.
‘Wolf Country’ is available to buy from http://eye-books.com/books/wolfcountry and all good booksellers.
