The novel, for me, was an accident. I really don't consider myself a novelist.

The very function of creativity, of the elaboration of the human condition only enlarges the human spirit and, I mean, as a writer I don't want to read political literature all the time. It would be terribly boring and, you know, abrasive, but just reading the insights, you know, partaking of the insights of a writer into phenomena, into society, into human relationships, both on a micro level and on a macro level, is already a function.

Some of us – poets are not exactly poets. We live sometimes – beyond the word.

You accept whoever you are interacting with, directly, or indirectly.

My horizon on humanity is enlarged by reading the writers of poems, seeing a painting, listening to some music, some opera, which has nothing at all to do with a volatile human condition or struggle or whatever. It enriches me as a human being.

African film makers are scraping by on a mere pittance.

For me, justice is the prime condition of humanity.