A passenger on a road journey is in the hands of a driver; a reader embarking on a book is in the hands of a narrator. Romesh Gunesekera bookdriverembark Change image and share on social
I don't think I knew I would be a writer. I wanted to become a writer, and I tried to write. Romesh Gunesekera knowwantwrite Change image and share on social
In the sense that writing is to retrieve the past and stop the passing of time, all writing is about loss. It's not nostalgia in the sense of yearning to bring back the past, but recognition of the erosion of things as you live. Romesh Gunesekera backbringerosion share on social
Sri Lanka is a part of my background: it's not where I live, but it's what I want to explore. And I find it works very well to explore through fiction. Romesh Gunesekera backgroundexplorefiction Change image and share on social
For me, there is urgency in fiction, even though writing is, in itself, an act against the corrosiveness of time. Romesh Gunesekera actcorrosivenessfiction Change image and share on social
I was very lucky - it wasn't a question of being wealthy; my father was just extremely lucky with the couple of jobs he got. So we got a chance to travel when nobody else could travel. Romesh Gunesekera chancecoupleextremely Change image and share on social
Sri Lanka is an island that everyone loves at some level inside themselves. A very special island that travellers, from Sinbad to Marco Polo, dreamed about. A place where the contours of the land itself forms a kind of sinewy poetry. Romesh Gunesekera contourdreamform share on social
It seems to me that we live in dangerous times all over the world: we have the technology to remember everything but a desire to forget the troubling and to seek the safety of numbness. Fiction can do something about that. Romesh Gunesekera dangerousdesirefiction share on social
Novels are the means by which we can escape the moment we are imprisoned in, but at the same time, the roots of a novel are in the world in which it is written. We write, and we read, to understand the world we live in. Romesh Gunesekera escapeimprisonlive share on social
I believe if a sentence is to retain its strength over time, it needs to be carefully made. Romesh Gunesekera carefullymakeretain Change image and share on social
