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.

I was going to be a scientist.

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.

I became a sceptic of one way of seeing the world. And I think it is what started me in my awareness that any worldview is superstitious.

I study people all the time. For some reason, we're not very good at seeing what's there or hearing what we're hearing.

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

You cannot come to a Nigerian restaurant without having pepper soup.

The poem is never complete in the mind. It emerges, and then it's like an act of unveiling. The unveiling is the longest and most difficult part of it.

If you are working in an office, where do you find the time to write a novel? But you can finish a short story in five pages. Furthermore, a short story is a perfect place to learn the craft.

I began my writing life as a poet, so poetry has always been fundamental. I evolved from poetry to journalism to stories to novels. But poetry was always there.