Fiction and poetry are my first loves, but the really beautiful lyrical essay can do so much that other forms cannot. Download Download Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Rotate quotes beautiful essay fiction
When I was growing up in Nigeria - and I shouldn't say Nigeria, because that's too general, but in Afikpo, the Igbo part of the country where I'm from - there were always rites of passage for young men. Men were taught to be men in the ways in which we are not women; that's essentially what it is. Chris Abani afikpocountryessentially share on social
My mother was English. My parents met in Oxford in the '50s, and my mother moved to Nigeria and lived there. She was five foot two, very feisty and very English. Chris Abani 50senglishfeisty Change image and share on social
My grand uncle was a traditional priest, and he would always say to me as a kid, 'We stand in our own light,' which essentially for him meant we were entirely responsible for a lot of what happens to us and for the ways in which our lives play out. Chris Abani essentiallygrandkid share on social
I do read a lot, and I think in recent years the ratio between the amount of non-fiction and fiction has tipped quite considerably. I did read fiction as a teenager as well, mostly because I was forced to read fiction, of course, to go through high school. Daniel Tammet amountconsiderablyfiction share on social
I'll be writing essays long after I've stopped writing fiction. There is this unusually broad range in the non-fiction, but if you look at what I'm capable of as a novelist, I'm more limited. Geoff Dyer broadcapableessay Change image and share on social
Recently, I was in Bernalda, my dad's ancestral home town in Italy. He has just refurbished a palazzo and turned it into a hotel, so we had my sister's wedding there. It was beautiful. Roman Coppola ancestralbeautifulbernalda Change image and share on social