Uzodinma Iweala Quotes
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The images that we see of Africa are so... that are so engrained in our minds are of this place that is terrible - like hell on earth. And that doesn't acknowledge the positive things - the many, many, many positive things - that people are doing.
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U.N.-orchestrated gatherings are typically the death of all spontaneity and innovation.
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We grew up going to church, and I believe in God. I don't know that I have the ability to define what or who or how God is. You know, I think that religion kind of messes people up in that regard. That's just my own personal philosophy.
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I hear a good song and I start thinking, 'Oh shoot. You know there's a story that can be told to this,' and whatnot.
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It's true that people will take advantage of you in Nigeria, but this happens everywhere in the world.
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It takes time for people to understand how, as an individual, I can have an impact on the way that society works.
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Reading 'Search Sweet Country' is like reading a dream, and indeed, at times, it feels like the magical landscapes of writers like the Nigerian Ben Okri or the Mozambican Mia Couto.
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Anybody who tells you they're not scared when starting a new book project is a very good liar.
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It's a beautiful thing, the desire to help a fellow human who is maybe in a rough spot.
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We are not living in the same world we were immediately after the Cold War, when there seemed to be a greater belief in the universality of human rights and there was enough prosperity to make us question why we had not committed more resources to upholding the values we claimed to hold most dear.
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There are skills you pick up on in a clinical environment in terms of how to ask questions, what to look for, how to listen that serve one well when trying to write.
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War in Africa is hardly a new phenomenon, nor are voices telling its stories of terror and triumph. Yet some of the continent's most devastating conflicts - and the literature born from the experiences of their survivors - have often gone unnoticed in the West.
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I've been writing since I was really young.
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Medicine has an immediate impact, the ability to do good. Writing is such a solitary activity.
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Our racial past and future is something that we Americans must address.
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'Beasts of No Nation' began when I read an article about child soldiers in Sierra Leone during my final year of high school.
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In general, Barack Hussein Obama brings us face to face with the discomfort our society feels with this idea of difference.
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The first time I ever cast a vote in my 1992 Blessed Sacrament School poll, I voted for Ross Perot because - Ross Perot.
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European authors often write books about the rest of the world that profess a vision of shared humanity but fall far short, casting the other as exotic or dangerous.
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I would say, number one, don't worry about getting published. Just write. Number two, just write. Three is make sure you read.
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Sometimes you just wanna go out, see your action movie, be done with it, come home. You know, and, like, you see 'The Matrix' or whatever, you see whatever film it is, and you're like, 'Oh cool,' whatever.
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As Americans, I think we're a very entitled bunch.
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Everybody has an equal right to be on this earth and to be happy on this earth and to achieve on this earth. That's kind of the way that I would like to try and go about living.
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The denial with which many African leaders and communities greeted the appearance of HIV and AIDS across the continent in the 1990s is now considered a tragic mistake rather than a purposeful pushback against lingering colonial prejudice.