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.

I love cooking for men and making love with them'not just reproductive lovemaking but I like sex for the sake of freaking out with men.

One of my brothers in my adopted family converted to Islam and I love him with all my heart. I have Muslim women who understand my pain and they give me lots of love and support. But what Black Americans never think about is that the African version of Islam is totally different from American Islam. They've never seen mothers doused in gasoline and set on fire for ’religious' reasons. So they don't know what I'm talking about.

I happen to know at least a hundred Sudanese refugees in the United States, all of whom were taken in by white families and white churches, and they all tell me''Naima, you were blessed to be raised by Black Americans.'

Because I was in psychiatric treatment for most of my childhood and had to learn English and had to adjust to a white-dominated society, I truly know what being Sudanese refugees [adopting by white family] mean. It's not something that you can explain in the confines of an interview, but there is an immediate comfort, a connection between black phenotypes that is natural.

The press doesn't like me, because I am a weirdo to them, so they do everything to create their own fictional Kola Boof.