I became a sceptic of one way of seeing the world. And I think it is what started me in my awareness that any worldview is superstitious.

The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.

It is not important for me as a writer that you leave a piece of writing of mine with either an agreement or even a resonance with what I have said. What is important is that you leave with the resonance of what you have felt and what you thought in reaction to that.

Some of my reactions are very Nigerian. I still believe that words are things.

You see, I was told stories, we were all told stories as kids in Nigeria. We had to tell stories that would keep one another interested, and you weren't allowed to tell stories that everybody else knew. You had to dream up new ones.