The summer I finished my first novel Ghana Must Go, I drove across west Africa: from Accra to Lomé to Cotonou to the deliciously named Ouagadougou. Taiye Selasi More Quotes by Taiye Selasi More Quotes From Taiye Selasi As a writer, one is obliged to release her words, to let them live in the world on their own. Taiye Selasi obliged release world What distinguishes [Afropolitans] is a willingness to complicate Africa – namely, to engage with, critique, and celebrate the parts of Africa that mean most to them. Perhaps what most typifies the Afropolitan consciousness is the refusal to oversimplify; the effort to understand what is ailing in Africa alongside the desire to honour what is wonderful, unique. Rather than essentialising the geographical entity, we seek to comprehend the cultural complexity; to honour the intellectual and spiritual legacy; and to sustain our parents’ cultures. Taiye Selasi unique spiritual mean As a novelist, I ask of myself only that I tell the truth and that I tell it beautifully. Taiye Selasi asks novelists telling-the-truth So often, literature about African people is conflated with literature about African politics, as if the state were somehow of greater import or interest than the individual. Taiye Selasi individual literature people The big ideas always come in flashes. I don't really craft stories that much. I genuinely don't know where these people come from and I've often wondered if writing is just a socially acceptable form of madness. Taiye Selasi writing people ideas I wouldn't mind my book being called an African novel if it didn't invite lazy readings. Taiye Selasi lazy reading book I write essays to clear my mind. I write fiction to open my heart. Taiye Selasi mind heart writing How can I come from a nation? How can a human being come from a concept? Taiye Selasi nations human-beings humans Sight is subjective. We learned that in class. Taiye Selasi subjective sight class When I'm working, I'm so narrowly focused on sound, language, rhythm, flow, that I rarely feel the emotion of the text. It's only after - long after - I've finished a piece that I can experience in any way its emotional charge. Taiye Selasi emotional flow long I live in Rome and five minutes from my flat is a church where you can walk in and see this beautiful Caravaggio. Just the way this man uses dark paint: dark to create dark to create dark, the layering of the darkness in his work. I just race home: I want to create! Taiye Selasi dark home beautiful I wrote fiction during my entire childhood, from age 4 to 18, and started writing plays when I went to Yale and Oxford. Taiye Selasi yale play writing I consider myself West African, among other cultural identities, and a writer, among other creative ones. Taiye Selasi creative west identity As a young woman, I had been seeking experience, knowledge, truth, the stuff writers need in their work, but when the artist actually kicked in, I came to understand that in this romantic relationship I was not free to be myself, or to find myself, in order to begin the true work I needed to do. Taiye Selasi artist order needs Every Christmas, all around Ghana, there are tons of these parties and they are full of everything that exists in human life in Ghana and worldwide. Taiye Selasi human-life ghana party I was four when I announced my ambition to write, eight when I began publishing such claims. Taiye Selasi eight ambition writing The thing that comes most frequently to me on yoga retreats is excruciating pain in my hips. Taiye Selasi retreat pain yoga I've written fiction for as long as I can remember; it's always been my preferred form of play. Taiye Selasi play long fiction When writing screenplays, it's a matter of remembering to leave off the page anything and everything that doesn't appear on the screen. Taiye Selasi anything-and-everything pages writing I'm not sure where I'm from! I was born in London. My father's from Ghana but lives in Saudi Arabia. My mother's Nigerian but lives in Ghana. I grew up in Boston. Taiye Selasi ghana mother father
