Ben Okri

“I was born left-handed, but I was made to use my other hand. When I was writing 'Famished Road,' which was very long, I got repetitive stress syndrome. My right wrist collapsed, so I started using my left hand. The prose I wrote with my left hand came out denser, so later on I had to change it.”

— Ben Okri

“One of the greatest gifts my father gave me - unintentionally - was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity. We had a bit of a rollercoaster life with some really challenging financial periods. He was always unshaken, completely tranquil, the same ebullient, laughing, jovial man.”

— Ben Okri

“Magic becomes art when it has nothing to hide.”

— Ben Okri

“I'm conscious of a series of circles working its way through my life. And at this particular moment I have come round to the beginning of my writing cycle. It begins with poetry. There's hardly a day that goes past on which I don't write poetry.”

— Ben Okri

“The best writing is not about the writer, the best writing is absolutely not about the writer, it's about us, it's about the reader.”

— Ben Okri

“The higher the artist, the fewer the gestures. The fewer the tools, the greater the imagination. The greater the will, the greater the secret failure.”

— Ben Okri

“Don't despair too much if you see beautiful things destroyed, if you see them perish. Because the best things are always growing in secret.”

— Ben Okri

“The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.”

— Ben Okri

“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.”

— Ben Okri

“I am not fighting for success, just to get more beauty out of myself and share it with more people.”

— Ben Okri

“Politics is the art of the possible creativity is the art of the impossible.”

— Ben Okri

“Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.”

— Ben Okri