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.

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 consider myself West African, among other cultural identities, and a writer, among other creative ones.

I'm not sure where I'm from! I was born in London. My father's from Ghana but lives in Saudi Arabia. My mother's Nigerian but lives in Ghana. I grew up in Boston.

The writer presents himself to the blank page not with an open passport but an open heart.

So often, literature about African people is conflated with literature about African politics, as if the state were somehow of greater import or interest than the individual.

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