Toyin Falola has given us what is truly rare in modern African writing: a seriously funny, racy, irreverent package of memories, and full of the most wonderful pieces of poetry and ordinary information.
AMA ATA AIDOOOnce an interesting idea or theme occurs to me then I would want to write a poem about it. The rest, frankly, is not difficult.
More Ama Ata Aidoo Quotes
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No matter what anybody says, we can’t have it all. Not if you are a woman. Not yet.
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Things are working out… towards their dazzling conclusions.
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Its a sad moment, really, when parents first become a bit frightened of their children.
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I’ve written poems about gifts.
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Sometimes a word or an argument will trigger a poem.
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Time by itself means nothing, no matter how fast it moves, unless we give it something to carry for us; something we value. Because it is such a precious vehicle, is time.
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At the age of 15, a teacher had asked me what I wanted to do for a career, and without knowing why or even how I replied that I wanted to be a poet.
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For us Africans, literature must serve a purpose: to expose, embarrass, and fight corruption and authoritarianism.
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Once an interesting idea or theme occurs to me then I would want to write a poem about it. The rest, frankly, is not difficult.
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The very old certainly do not go back on lunch remains but they do bite back at old conversational topics.
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There are powerful forces undermining progress in Africa. But one must never underestimate the power of the people to bring about change.
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They had always told me that I wrote like a man.
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Soyinka’s Death at Dawn, Auden’s Musée des Beaux Arts, Stevie Smith’s Not Waving but Drowning and Wislawa Szymborska’s Some People come to mind immediately. But there are plenty, plenty more that I enjoy.
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Politicians are easy to attack, but frankly, we are all guilty of not meeting the needs of Africa’s young people properly.
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I always wanted to write poetry, even when I was very young.
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