The market literature, which was particularly strong in Igboland, in Onitsha, today it is no longer strong. It is one of the victims of the civil war, that market was actually destroyed and at the end of the war a new Nigeria has struggled to come into being and I believe that what is probably going to replace the market literature might be the video, which they have taken to in a big way, creating dramas. So that may be the next thing way we will see coming out of the local basic level in our society.

No man however great is greater than his people

In America there is really very little knowledge of the literature of the rest of the world. Of the literature of Latin America, yes, But that's not all that different in inspiration from that of America, or of Europe. One must go further. You don't even have to go too far in terms of geography - you can start with the Native Americans and listen to their poetry.

Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am - and what I need - is something I have to find out myself.

If you have leaders who are prepared to incite group against group it is very easy to manufacture reasons and excuses.

I think back to the old people I knew when I was growing up, and they always seemed larger than life.

When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don't just turn it off one day.