It was a revelation for me, in a practical sense, that you could write in an African language and still reach an audience beyond that language through the art of translation.

If poverty was to be sold three cents today, i can't buy it.

Life, struggle, even amidst pain and blood and poverty, seemed beautiful.

For me, being in prison writing in an African language was a way of saying: "Even if you put me in prison, I will keep on writing in the language which made you put me in prison."

I was wondering why I was put in prison for working in an African language when I had not been put in prison for working in English. So really, in prison I started thinking more seriously about the relation between language and power.

It was a revelation for me, in a practical sense, that you could write in an African language and still reach an audience beyond that language through the art of translation.

People went to war as a result of it and even today, every Sunday, the Bible in translation is being read to thousands and thousands in Africa. It is an integral part of their functioning and the way they look at the world.