Being a twin, and being my sister's twin, is such a defining part of my life that I wouldn't know how to be who I am, including a writer, without that being somehow at the centre.

I wouldn't mind my book being called an African novel if it didn't invite lazy readings.

I write essays to clear my mind. I write fiction to open my heart.

As a novelist, I ask of myself only that I tell the truth and that I tell it beautifully.

When writing screenplays, it's a matter of remembering to leave off the page anything and everything that doesn't appear on the screen.

Being a twin, and being my sister's twin, is such a defining part of my life that I wouldn't know how to be who I am, including a writer, without that being somehow at the centre.

As a young woman, I had been seeking experience, knowledge, truth, the stuff writers need in their work, but when the artist actually kicked in, I came to understand that in this romantic relationship I was not free to be myself, or to find myself, in order to begin the true work I needed to do.