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[Anna] Dè seòrsa leughaidh a bhiodh tu a’ dèanamh nuair a bha thu ag èirigh suas?

[Màiri Alice] Bhithinn a’ leughadh càil sam bith nuair a bha mi nas òige. Bhithinn a’ leughadh, tha cuimhne a’m a bhith a’ leughadh rudan mar The Hobbit agus thòisich mi air The Lord of the Rings ach thug e fada ro fhada faighinn troimhe, ach leughainn càil sam bith ach thòisich e a’ còrdadh rium nuair a bha mi a’ fàs beagan na bu shine, can nuair a bha mi a’ tighinn gu deireadh na bun-sgoile, a bhith a’ leughadh leabhraichean le caractaran boireann gu math làidir.

[Anna] Nise, a thuilleadh air a bhith le do cheann ann an leabhar nuair a bha thu beag, bha thu cuideachd le ùidh mhòr ann an dràma. Innis dhomh dè bhiodh tu a’ dèanamh.

[Màiri Alice] Bha.

[Màiri Alice] Bhithinn a’ gabhail pàirt ann an dealbh-chluich sam bith a b’ urrainn dhomh. Bhithinn a’ dèanamh càil a bha a’ dol aig a’ bhun-sgoil no ma bha sinn a’ dèanamh dealbh-chluich aig a’ Mhòd agus bhithinn cuideachd a’ dol gu clubaichean dràma. Bha fear ann an Steòrnabhagh aig an àm. Chaidh mi dhan Bhàgh còmhla ri Sgoil MhicNeacail, rud nach biodh tòrr a’ dèanamh, feadhainn bhon bhun-sgoil, gus am b’ urrainn dhomh dol gu Stornoway Thespians, club dràma ann an Steòrnabhagh. ’S bhithinn cuideachd a’ dol gu Scottish Youth Theatre, club dràma a tha a’ dol as t-samhradh far am bi thu a’ dol airson cola-deug nad aonar agus a’ gabhail pàirt ann a bhith a’ sgrìobhadh dealbh-chluich agad fhèin airson cur air an àrd-ùrlar. Bha ùidh mhòr agam ann an dràma.

[Anna] Agus mar sin dheth bha sin a’ toirt beachd dhut air a h-uile h-ìre dhe bhith a’ cruthachadh dràma. So a’ chiad fhear a th’ agadsa a-nochd tha e a’ toirt sealladh dhut air saoghal gu math eadar-dhealaichte bhon t-saoghal a bh’ agad. Dè an leabhar a tha sin?

[Màiri Alice] ’S e Bricklane le Monica Ali. Leabhar gu math inntinneach dhòmhsa. Leugh mi e nuair a bha mi mu ochd deug agus tha e mu dheidhinn tè òg a tha ochd deug cuideachd a tha a’ tighinn a-null a Lunnainn à Bangladesh agus tha i a’ pòsadh fear a tha aosta gu leòr a bhith na h-athair. ’S e pòsadh a chuir a pàrantan air dòigh a th’ ann agus tha e a’ leantainn na sgeulachd aice-se bho tha i a’ tighinn a-null a Lunnainn ’s i cho òg ’s chan eil Beurla sam bith aice. ’S urrainn dhi “tapadh leat” agus “tha mi duilich” a ràdh ’s sin e. ’S tha sinn a’ leantainn na sgeulachd aice-se fhad ’s a tha i a’ fàs an àird anns an dùthaich ùir a tha seo, dùthaich eagalach far nach aithnich i duine ’s tha sinn ag ionnsachadh mu dheidhinn na coimhearsnachd Bangladeshi ann an Lunnainn ann am Bricklane agus tha sinn ga leantainn gu bheil i fhèin meadhan-aois.

[Anna] Sgeulachd a th’ ann a bhuail ortsa seach gun robh thu aig an aon aois, aig an aon ìre nad bheatha ris a’ bhoireannach a bha seo.

[Màiri Alice] Bha, bha mise ochd deug, mar a thuirt mi, nuair a leugh mi e. Aig an aon aois ’s a bha ise nuair a bh’ aice ri tighinn gu dùthaich ùr, cultar ùr agus pòsadh strainnsear a bha seo. ’S cha robh fios agam fhìn air càil mu dheidhinn coimhearsnachd Bangladeshi ann am Breatainn, no tòrr de na coimhearsnachdan eile a th’ ann, ’s bha e inntinneach dhòmhsa aig an aois sin, nuair a tha sinne ann am Breatainn mar bhoireannaich òga, tha an t-uabhas chothroman againn ’s cha bhiodh sinn a-riamh a’ smaoineachadh mu dheidhinn dèanamh na bha ar pàrantan ag iarraidh oirnn dèanamh ach bha ise air fàgail an dùthaich aice fhèin agus air tighinn a-null an seo agus dèanamh rudeigin air nach bithinn-sa idir a’ smaoineachadh aig an aois sin.

Chaidh am prògram seo, Leugh Mi, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2015.

[Anna] What sort of reading would you have done when you were growing up?

[Mairi Alice] I would read anything when I was younger. I would read, I remember reading things like The Hobbit and I started The Lord of the Rings but it took far too long getting through it, but I would read anything but I started enjoying it when I got a little older, say when I was coming to the end of primary school, to read books with very strong female characters.

[Anna] Now, as well as having your head in a book when you were little, you also had a great interest in drama. Tell me what you would do.

[Mairi Alice] I did.

[Mairi Alice] I would take part in any play that I could. I would do anything that was happening at primary school or if we were doing a play at the Mòd and I would also go to drama clubs. There was one in Stornoway at the time. I went to the Bay with the Nicolson Institute, something that not many did, ones from primary school, so that I could go to Stornoway Thespians, a drama club in Stornoway. And I would also go to Scottish Youth Theatre, a drama club that runs in the summer where you go for a fortnight by yourself and take part in writing your own play to show on stage. I had a great interest in drama.

[Anna] And therefore that gave you an idea of every stage of creating drama. So your first book tonight it gives you an insight into a world very different from your own. What book is that?

[Mairi Alice] It is Bricklane by Monica Ali. A very interesting book for me. I read it when I was about eighteen and it is about a young woman who is also eighteen and who comes to London from Bangladesh and she marries a man who is old enough to be her father. It is a marriage arranged by her parents and it follows her story from coming over to London so young and she doesn’t have any English. She can say “thank you” and “I am sorry” and that’s it. And we follow her story as she grows up in this new country, a frightening country where she doesn’t know anyone and we learn about the Bangladeshi community in London in Bricklane and we follow her until she is middle-aged.

[Anna] A story that impacted you since you were at the same age, at the same stage in your life as this woman.

[Mairi Alice] Yes, I was eighteen, as I said, when I read it. At the same age as her when she had to come to a new country, a new culture and marry this stranger. And I didn’t know anything about the Bangladeshi community in Britain, or many of the other communities that there are, and it was interesting for me at that age, when we in Britain as young women, we have so many opportunities and we would never think about doing what our parents wanted us to do but she had left her own country and had come over here and was doing something that I would never have thought of at that age.

This programme, Leugh Mi, was first broadcast in 2015.