In the summer of 2009, following her sophomore year at Stanford University, Gyasi took a trip to Ghana sponsored by a research grant.[5][6] Although Gyasi was born in Ghana, she moved to the United States as an infant, and this was her first trip back.[6] On a friend's prompting, they visited the Cape Coast Castle, where she found her inspiration in the contrast between the luxurious upper levels (for colonists and their local families) and the misery of the dungeons below, where slaves were kept.[6] She relates: "I just found it really interesting to think about how there were people walking around upstairs who were unaware of what was to become of the people living downstairs."[6]
Gyasi says the family tree came first, and each chapter, which follows one descendant, is tied to a significant historical event,[5] although she described the research as "wide but shallow."[6] The Door of No Return by British historian William St Clair helped to form the descriptions of life in and around the Castle in the first few chapters.[7][8] One of the final chapters, entitled "Marjorie", is inspired by Gyasi's experiences as part of an immigrant family living in Alabama.[6][5]
... I think I was kind of constantly interacting, I guess, with really what the legacy of slavery is. You know, coming from a country, Ghana, that had a role in slavery, and then ending up in a place where slavery is still so strongly felt institutionally, as racism is still so strongly felt. The irony of that wasn't lost on me. And I think, had I not grown up in Alabama, I don't know that I would have ever written this book.
— Yaa Gyasi, 2016 interview with Scott Simon[8]
Publication history
- — (2016). Homegoing (1st hardcover ed.). New York: Knopf. ISBN 978-1-10194-713-5. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
- — (2016). Homegoing (ebook ed.). New York: Knopf. ISBN 978-1-10194-714-2.
- — (2016). Homegoing (open market ed.). New York: Knopf. ISBN 978-0-45149-383-5.
- — (2016). Homegoing (1st UK hardcover ed.). London: Viking. ISBN 978-0-24124-272-8. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
- — (2017). Weg Naar Huis. Translated by Hoekmeijer, Nicolette (1st Dutch ed.). Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij. ISBN 978-9-02349-995-4. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
