I don't think Kenya is the only country that tries to induce amnesia - it seems to be a global phenomenon. But offenses do not die. They do not disappear.

I get turned on by the idea of an essence - finding the essence of the thing.

Novel-writing is a settling, lovely space. I call it self-indulgent - I feel mildly guilty about it.

The truth, and nothing but the truth, is that dawn begins with a wrestling match with my soul and a systematic rejection of all the other useful possibilities a day offers. I make obeisance to the story, its characters, and the muse with burnt offerings.

I like talking to myself and making patterns out of the letters of the alphabet on blank surfaces.

Every Kenyan writer has offered me something to hold onto, something to believe in.

I do need to find inner tranquillity and get into a "zone" before I switch on the computer to work on a story. Only after this do I enter the story world, where I meet the characters and, together, we work through the day and night.