Uzodinma Iweala Quotes

Uzodinma Iweala

Profession : Author

Birth : November 5, 1982

Every time a Hollywood director shoots a film about Africa that features a Western protagonist, I shake my head - because Africans, real people though we may be, are used as props in the West's fantasy of itself.

Uzodinma Iweala

Nigeria is a difficult place. It is not a country for the faint of heart. On a good day, when our larger cities such as Abuja, Lagos, and Kano are filled with the teeming masses going in so many different directions, flogged by the heat and sun, bumping down uneven roads all in the name of 'the hustle,' it can appear chaotic.

Uzodinma Iweala

Nigeria shed the last of a succession of brutal military dictatorships in 1997 and adopted a democratic form of government only in 1999. Our elections of 2003, 2007, and 2011 were complicated and fraught with tension, but each one has shown remarkable progress.

Uzodinma Iweala

I don't know if I want to be a writer.

Uzodinma Iweala

Sometimes writing it is a good way to understand something.

Uzodinma Iweala

U.N.-orchestrated gatherings are typically the death of all spontaneity and innovation.

Uzodinma Iweala

Lagos is a fascinatingly infuriating place that its residents love - and love to hate. Licence plates on cars here proudly display the state motto, 'Centre of Excellence,' in what often seems a sarcastic swipe at the place we live in.

Uzodinma Iweala

Lagos is sometimes emblematic of disorder. In traffic, drivers make their own rules. There is a constant war between our street hawkers and our various forms of law enforcement deployed to eradicate the 'indiscipline' of poverty.

Uzodinma Iweala

As an adult, I discovered Claritin, and my whole world changed.

Uzodinma Iweala

Washington, D.C., is not a subtle city. Unlike the capitals of other once-great powers which, many hundreds of years old, present a more seamless meshing of monumental memory and daily life, D.C. is constructed to shout, 'Here I am! I am powerful!' to the world.

Uzodinma Iweala

D.C. is in my blood, my diction, my sensibility and style. I am, though, in love with a city that cannot fully love me back.

Uzodinma Iweala

Like all things, cities must change - even a city as enamoured of the past and memory as D.C.

Uzodinma Iweala

For me, I am really interested in how I can stretch myself to produce things. If, in the process, others take note and recognise that, then wonderful.

Uzodinma Iweala

I fundamentally believe that no one can teach you how to write - finding out how to write a story is part of the process of creating a story - but you can really learn through exposure to different writing, to different art forms, to different modes of storytelling, and with mentors who are able to get you to step outside your comfort zone.

Uzodinma Iweala

I've had great writing teachers and mentors and great success with my first book.

Uzodinma Iweala

I've got to keep on writing. That's non-negotiable. At the same time, one has to look at the world and recognise that writing is not the only thing to be done - I want to have an effect on the world.

Uzodinma Iweala

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.

Uzodinma Iweala

I'll confess that, from an early age, I was a huge fan of President Reagan because my parents bought me an enormous stuffed monkey that they named President Reagan - yes, I get it now.

Uzodinma Iweala

'Talking Peace' is one of the few books from childhood that I still keep prominently displayed on my bookshelf.

Uzodinma Iweala

The first time I ever cast a vote in my 1992 Blessed Sacrament School poll, I voted for Ross Perot because - Ross Perot.

Uzodinma Iweala