I am a guest of the French language. My poems in French are born of my interaction with the French language, which is not the same as that of a French poet.

To lead a country, you must periodically hold a national consultation in which people representing different programmes can make a bid for power.

I belong to a specific category of writers, those who speak and write in a language different from that of their parents.

I am glad to have found a readership, but one can’t write only what is likely to sell. A writer is not a shopkeeper. A writer creates an imaginary world that he transmits to others.

Beauty is first and foremost an emotion.

For me, poetry is a situation - a state of being, a way of facing life and facing history.

We must have our say, not through violence, aggression or fear. We must speak out calmly and forcefully. We shall only be able to enter the new world era if we agree to engage in dialogue with the other side.