When the British came to Ibo land, for instance, at the beginning of the 20th century, and defeated the men in pitched battles in different places, and set up their administrations, the men surrendered. And it was the women who led the first revolt.

Serious and good art has always existed to help, to serve, humanity. Not to indict.

It is not quite true to say that I am not an advocate of writing in African languages. What I think is, one has to think about what is practicable.

When a new saying gets to the land of empty men, they lose their heads over it.

Unless I'm writing in the Igbo language, I use a language developed elsewhere, which is English. That affects the way I write. It even affects to some extent the stories I write.

Children are young, but they're not naive. And they're honest. They're not going to keep wide awake if the story is boring. When they get excited you can see it in their eyes.

There must be areas in which a particular character does not represent you.