I'm extremely optimistic about rapid transformation and change of things in Africa in general.

Living in South Africa and periodically coming back to Kenya, my relationship with officialdom in Kenya was just insane.

I like the idea of readers feeling a familiarity, whether it's with Africa or childhood.

When I went to live in South Africa, I immediately began to understand what went wrong. Because here was a place supposed to be under apartheid - I arrived there in 1991 - but here a black person had more say and had more influence over his white government than an average Kenyan had over the Moi government.

Every human being has a bit of gangster in him.

In kindergarten, we had this Irish Catholic headmistress called Sister Leonie, and I remember she would tell us, say, to put the crayons in the box. I remember thinking, 'Why is everyone finding this so easy? Why should the crayons be in the box?'