“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.”

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.

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

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

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.