Even if we want to eradicate our ghosts, our dead, our murdered, even if you erase a name and the record of the existence of a person, somebody remembers.

Even if you're in charge of the grand story there's still memory. The other stories do not go away.

One day, I was running to the river. Along the way there was the most exquisite butterfly, a tiny little thing, on the pavement. I kind of jumped over it. And then two days later I woke up in the middle of the night with a character running, jumping over butterflies on the streets of Nairobi. After that, I followed the story. The story wrote itself.

I come from a culture that has refined the art of the dirge to a sublime level.

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

Kenya is a mercurial character. I feel the country has a presence that can turn on its people in a very violent way.

Even though we've written epic poems and made incredible films about love, I still don't think anyone can understand what it is, or why it means everything.