In 'A Boy's Own Story' and 'Jack Holmes and His Friend,' my idea was to take someone totally different from my real self and, at the same time, to assign to him my own life trajectory.

While writing 'City Boy,' I relied mainly on my own memories. In particular, I was able to describe the effect of gay liberation on an individual life (mine) as events paralleled my own growing self-acceptance; in this case, the political truly was the personal.

I longed for literary celebrity even as I saw with my own eyes how little happiness it brought.

I'm a minor player in my own life story.

I'm not a rude boy; I'm my own thing.

I usually make sure that my stories are from Africa or my own background so as to highlight the cultural background at the same time as telling the story.