The site was a palimpsest, as was all the city, written, erased, rewritten.

It wasn't a deception: all lovers live on partial knowledge.

I couldn't remember what life was like before I started walking.

I often say I've spent more time with photography than I have with literature just in terms of hours.

Being Nigerian is a strong part of my identity. Being American is a strong part of my identity. And there are important parts of who I am that really have nothing to do with my national connection.

At the emergence of the modern novel with Rabelais and Cervantes, all kinds of things were possible in a long-form prose work. Within a couple of hundred years, most of those possibilities were abandoned in favor of a text that efficiently transmitted sentiments.

I suddenly feel a vague pity for all those writers who have to ply their trade from sleepy American suburbs, writing divorce scenes symbolized by the very slow washing of dishes.