I believe it is important to speak to your readers in person... to enable people to have a whole picture of me; I have to both write and speak. I view my role as writer and also as oral communicator.

I came to England in 1962 as a very young bride, in my teens, hoping just to stay two years and go back.

When I came to England it wasn't what it is now, then the black people were very rarely strong. I had a personal shock because England wasn't what I expected it to be... where people lived like Jane Austen.

I work toward the liberation of women, but I'm not feminist. I'm just a woman.

As soon as I finish a book, I sell the paperback rights to different publishers and that's where I recoup my money.

In all my novels, I deal with the many problems and prejudices which exist for Black people in Britain today.

Few things are as bad as a guilty conscience.