'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' had a formative effect on me. I think it's one of those works that if you encounter it very early you're doubly enchanted by the beauty of the language and the strangeness of the vision. It stays with you.
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 cannot come to a Nigerian restaurant without having pepper soup.
