I'm not talking about my children's father'he's a wonderful black man, the hero of my life, and he's never disrespected or betrayed me. But I'm talking about what I see in the streets and in the media, this naked hatred that black men have towards the authentic black woman'which is really an indication of black men's hatred for blackness itself.

I'm not a 'strong warrior queen' like people think. I spend most of my day cooking and doing things with my sons.

I have this problem where it's like'I can never stop thinking. For instance, I find myself obsessing over the treatment of black women and girls by black men'the fact that black men have a special prejudice against black women and generally don't protect them or attempt to understand them, and I cry an awful lot about that.

What makes me angry'is that it wasn't me who revealed that I had been with Osama Bin Laden. I originally denied being involved with Osama when the London Guardian threatened to 'out' me.

I loved 1930's women's pictures'films by Josef Von Sternberg or William Wyler. So, I fashioned a style out of that. The integrity and ethos of what I would write, however, came from the films of Ousmane Sembene and from reading Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, Sylvia Plath and Alice Walker.

When I couldn't speak English, I loved silent films circa 1914-1929, Abel Gance being my favorite director.

As for developing a writing style'I would say that I tried to copy the pacing of the old movies I loved as a kid.