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.

What is translated from English and into English - and in what quantities - is a question of power.

What's good about writing is that when you write novels or fiction, people can see that the problems in one region are similar to problems in another region.

If a novel is written in a certain language with certain characters from a particular community and the story is very good or illuminating, then that work is translated into the language of another community - then they begin to see through their language that the problems described there are the same as the problems they are having. They can identify with characters from another language group.

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.

In terms of language, English is very dominant vis-Ã-vis African language. That in itself is a power relationship - between languages and communities - because the English language is a determinant of the ladder to achievement.

A person who acquires English has access to all the things that that language makes possible.