Actress, playwright and author of a new young adult novel, Run, Rebel, Manjeet Mann who founded Run the World, a non-profit making organisation which works with women and girls from marginalised backgrounds and helps to empower them through sport and storytelling. Susan Elkin chats to her.
Which came first, acting or writing? Acting. I grew up in a working-class family in Walsall and went to an ordinary secondary school. I always wanted to act and eventually did a Performing Arts degree at Coventry University. I went on to become “a good jobbing actor” and I’m still at it.
Did your Asian background make that difficult? Well, my parents – who were illiterate – certainly struggled to understand why I didn’t want to do the conventional Asian girl thing by marrying young and having children. I still get the disappointed “not married yet” vibe and I’ve been acting for 20 years now!
So how did you get to be a writer too? Through necessity really. I gradually realised that you can write your own material – it’s allowed! – so I did. And I started doing solo performance stuff at times when there wasn’t much other work. I also had the thought, at the back of my mind, that once I’d become a well-known actor, I’d write a novel. I suppose I thought nobody would be interested unless they’d heard of me. In fact, something unexpected happened.
Tell me … Penguin Books run an annual training/mentoring scheme for new writers called WriteNow. Initially you just send a synopsis and the first 1000 words. They get about 3,000 applicants and I was, to my amazement, long listed down with 299 others. Then you had to send 3,000 words and attend some workshops. Eventually it was 5,000 words and then the rest of the novel. At each stage I thought: “Well I’ve done brilliantly to get this far, but that’s bound to be the end of it now”. In a way I wasn’t really taking it, or myself, seriously, But then I was selected and offered a two book deal of which Run, Rebel is the first.
It’s a very empowering novel … Well, I hope so and I’m so glad you like it. My character Amber is an Asian girl who lives in an abusive household with expectations that she will embark on an arranged – or even forced – marriage as her sister has. I try to show that there is hope in this situation, there are ways out for both Amber and her mother. It doesn’t have to be like that and it’s very sad that these things still happen. Part of the plot of Run, Rebel was inspired by one real life woman in particular who really had to fight to get out of the door. I want readers of my novel to understand the reality
To what extent is it autobiographical? Well I certainly didn’t grow up in a cruel, frightening home like Amber’s, but I understand very well the cultural tensions and the difficulties of breaking away from the stereotype. Like Amber I had to read and write for my parents and my wanting to study drama really puzzled them because in their world, that’s not what girls like me do. So I really get it. But this is not just about Asian families. I think there’s a universal appeal relating to control and independence.
Why did you write it as a verse novel? I think because poetry is quite close to performance so, in a way, it’s like a play unfolding scene by scene. Because I’m an actor I read every word aloud as I write and I can see it visually. And my partner, Joseph Coelho is a performance poet so there’s a lot of poetry in my life one way or another.
It’s a pretty dramatic story. Do you think it will be adapted for film or TV? Well that would be something, wouldn’t it? I’ve had some tentative nibbles from theatre so who knows.
Do you still live in the Black Country? No – Folkestone where it’s lovely when the sun shines and bracing when the wind blows!
What are you working on at present? I have a play about trauma in children which has been in research and development via Skype this summer. I also have a TV comedy pilot underway which I can’t discuss. And my second novel for Penguin – verse format again – is now at the edit stage. In normal times I do lots of school visits, so I hope those will start again soon too. I’m pretty busy really!