1. What inspired you to write this story, and what drew you to this particular historical period?
Enheduanna inspired me. I stumbled across a woman who was a real-life high priestess, the daughter of the world’s first emperor, and the world’s first named author. No one I knew had heard of her. While few details of her life survive, those that do are unforgettable. This was a woman who leaps out of our deep history and refuses to be forgotten.
I wanted to create a plausible narrative about her life, which unfolded in a society that did not separate religion, commerce, and politics. I was intrigued by the complications this raised and by how this woman rose to power in a patriarchal society.
Despite our admiration for the innovation and ingenuity of the ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian civilizations, we have largely overlooked the fact that much of their worlds was pioneered by the ancient Mesopotamians. That realization made me want to write this novel even more.
2. How would you describe your book in a sentence to readers who haven’t discovered it yet?
Enheduanna's Song From the Sands is about a powerful ancient high priestess who tried violence to control her region but ultimately found that words were her greatest weapon.
3. How much research went into the novel, and did you uncover anything surprising along the way?
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I knew very little about the Akkadian Empire, and there was far less accessible research compared to other ancient worlds. Much from Enheduanna's time is debated, even the chronology itself. It seemed as though everything about it was surprising to me. Most of all, I had misunderstood the origins of so many conventions, including law, education, literature, literary traditions, agricultural techniques, trade, and much more. There's a book by Samuel Noah Kramer aptly entitled History Begins at Sumer.
My research process took months before I even began to construct the story and continued throughout the writing process. I was determined to have the events unfold linearly, for historical events to occur in a plausible order. I'm grateful to the many scholars whose work I relied on. I developed a deep admiration for their efforts in piecing together the heart of this sophisticated, complex society.
5. How do you balance historical accuracy with creating an engaging story?
I was writing about an era that isn’t well known, so I had to bring not only a character and the people in her world to life, but also the world itself. There’s a lot of history in my novel that will appeal to history lovers, but it is ultimately the story of a powerful woman whose life was defined by profound betrayals.
Enheduanna is fascinating not only because of her achievements, but also because of how she navigated the world around her. The circumstances of which are its history. So I didn’t feel that I was balancing history with character; rather, I was trying to understand how her choices were shaped by the world in which she lived.
6. Which character was the most interesting or challenging for you to write, and why?
By far, Enheduanna was both of these. That may be an expected answer, but it's true. She had to evolve from a naïve, kind teenager into a vengeful woman and then back to compassion and humility. To survive, she had to be relentlessly determined.
She is bitter about not being protected by the empire she served, yet she comes to realize that being protected would require her to relinquish her power.
7. Did the story or any characters evolve in unexpected ways while you were writing?
I didn’t have a plan other than to follow the arc of what we know about her—her status in ancient Mesopotamia and her fall into exile (laid out in the ancient hymn Nin-me-šara, “The Lady of All the Divine Powers”). The voice in the hymn is desperately alive. I had to find her.
Initially, I expected her to be a woman of great privilege. After all, she was born into those circumstances. I struggled to find that version of her. She was appointed to lead an important city in conquered territory. That was far from being set up for success.
She survived for a while. So when I imagined that path, she became anything but pampered and privileged. She also became more fascinating. So little about her ended up as I had initially imagined.
8. What does your writing process look like—are you a planner or do you prefer to write freely?
A combination of both. I’ll set the circumstances of my characters’ lives up front, but I discover how they are going to respond as I write. Their paths are determined by each preceding decision they make or circumstance they face.
9. What do you hope readers will feel or take away after finishing your book?
I'd love readers to take away three things: that Enheduanna belongs among history’s most remarkable women, that ancient Mesopotamia shaped our world and is one of the most compelling periods in history, and that right words are more enduring than any civilization.
10. If you could step into the world of your novel for a day, what would you most want to experience?
I would love to experience at least one temple ritual and the daily care of a temple deity. Each temple had one, and they were represented by an ornate carved wooden statue that “came to life” in a specific ceremony called “the opening of the mouth.” This statue was treated as if it were a living person, including being given human-like possessions. I would want to experience this from the point of view of one of Enheduanna’s close friends in order to better observe her world.
11. Just for fun—if your book were adapted into a film, who would you love to see in the cast? 🎬
Since we're imagining, I'd choose a young Irene Papas. But if this were a real-life casting decision, I think Golshifteh Farahani would be perfect.
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