Write Quotes

I should have written books instead of reading them.

Writing in African languages became a topic of discussion in conferences, in schools, in classrooms; the issue is always being raised – so it’s no longer “in the closet,” as it were. It’s part of the discussion going on about the future of African literature.

Don’t be too precious or attached to anything you write. Let things be malleable.

I tell aspiring writers that you have to find what you must write. When you find it, you will know, because the subject matter won’t let you go. It’s not enough to write simply because you think it would be neat to be published. You have to be compelled to write. If you’re not, nothing else that you do matters.

You think you KNOW when you learn.

There are three reasons for becoming a writer: the first is that you need the money; the second that you have something to say that you think the world should know; the third is that you can’t think what to do with the long winter evenings.

Honestly, I haven’t the time to read contemporary writers. I know this is awful, but in the main it is true.

The hardest thing is writing a recommendation for someone we know.

The best writing is rewriting.

When I start writing, I do two pages a day; if I’m gonna do 320, that’s 160 days.