“I like the idea of readers feeling a familiarity, whether its with Africa or childhood.”

I love playing with words and texture.

I, like all artists in Western cultures, am a shaman…come in the guise of a comic…to heal perception by using…’jokes’.

I’m extremely optimistic about rapid transformation and change of things in Africa in general.

I, Binyavanga Wainaina, quite honestly swear I have known I am a homosexual since I was five.

Africa is to be pitied, worshipped or dominated

I believe in, and will to the best of my ability fight for, equal rights and freedom of opinion for everyone, regardless of colour, religion, nationality, orientation – you know the rest.

A stretch of my body would surely stretch as far as the sky. The whole universe poised, and I am the agent of any movement.

All people have dignity. Theres nobody who was born without a soul and a spirit.

People reach an age… where somebody elses platform is no longer yours.

Everywhere I go, I see young people: Confident, forward looking. I have seen them in Lagos, in Rwanda, in the suburbs of London.

You must strive to become much less susceptible to influences outside of yourself and much more inclined to trust the instincts and feelings that lie within you.

Sure you have feelings and you get emotional and angry but I kept everything inside because I think I still had that thought in my mind – I didn’t want to get suspended again

I’ll try to be careful, but I know I’m not immune, cause I just can’t imagine how I’d ever come to harm with this feeling that I’m feeling as I’m drowning in your arms.

When you’re doing stand-up, you achieve an intimacy with the audience you can’t get on TV. There’s not a better feeling in the entire world then when you look out and see the audience is identifying with you.

Sometimes I get the feeling that I’m stranded in the wrong time where love is just a lyric in a children’s rhyme

One of the quickest ways to become exhausted is by suppressing your feelings.

I’m in good form, taking no interest in things, neglecting clothes, meals, company, and feeling calm and stable as I write.

The problem with righteous indignation is that even when you’re right, you’re still left feeling indignant.