Author

I was born in 1966, at the beginning of the Biafran-Nigerian Civil War, and the war ended after three years. And I was growing up in school, and the federal government didn't want us taught about the history of the war, because they thought it probably would make us generate a new generation of rebels.

From Chris Abani

My books are often shelved around those of Chinua Achebe and Margaret Atwood, or Chimamanda Adichie and Monica Ali. All of this depends, of course, on the bookstore and how conversant the shelf stocker is with the alphabet.

From Chris Abani

In this time of the Internet and nonfiction, to be on an actual bookshelf in an actual bookstore is exciting in itself.

From Chris Abani

The privilege of being a writer is that you have this opportunity to slow down and to consider things.

From Chris Abani

Like most writers, I find the Web is a wonderful distraction. Who doesn't need that last minute research before writing?

From Chris Abani

The Igbo used to say that they built their own gods. They would come together as a community, and they would express a wish. And their wish would then be brought to a priest, who would find a ritual object, and the appropriate sacrifices would be made, and the shrine would be built for the god.

From Chris Abani

I read mostly Irish, African, Japanese, South American, and African writers. You can count on Scandinavian literature for a certain kind of darkness, a modern mythic style.

From Chris Abani

I truly believe that writing is a continuum - so the different genres and forms are simply stops along the same continuum. Different ideas that need to be expressed sometimes require different forms for the ideas to float better. I don't write essays as often as I should.

From Chris Abani

I love essays, but they're not always the best way to communicate to a larger audience.

From Chris Abani

It takes me forever to actually finish something like a ten-page essay. But, when I do, I usually love what they are. It's a complicated relationship.

From Chris Abani

Chris Abani

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