“The Internet is really our meeting place. We have this amazing listserv. Every time I log onto it I feel a sense of pride, because if you log on and say, "Oh I was just in San Diego and I was in a park and I saw a lion," the flurry of replies on average is just like--wow! All these existential questions about what it means to be an African, and never having seen a lion at home, but having seen a lion here. Everything you say turns into this real philosophical debate--it's incredible in so many ways. And it's an invigorating place to be.” IfsWayFeelsMeanRealHomeTurnsSawsPrideInternetPhilosophicalMeetingsIncrediblesAverageDebateParksLionsWowExistentialInvigoratingSan Diego Author:Chris Abani
“Fiction is more dangerous than nonfiction because it can seduce better. I think we all know this, know that deeper truths can be approached in fiction than in fact. There are risks for the reader, because after reading certain books you find you have changed irreversibly. There are risks for writers: in China, now, and Ethiopia and other countries right now, writers face real persecution.” ThinkingKnowsBookRealCountryFactsFacesCertainReadingFictionRiskDangerousChangedReaderRight NowChinaDeeperNonfictionOther CountriesPersecutionSeducingEthiopiaYou Have Changed Author:Chris Abani
“Since I hold no judgments against my characters, no matter how heinous they might seem, I present them as real people with their own moral centers. We might feel those moral centers are mis-calibrated, but they are there and are the rudders that propel them. This makes reading my work a visceral roller coaster, 'cause the reader must embark on the journey of the protagonist equipped only with his or her own moral center.” PeopleFeelsRealMatterCharacterSeemsMightReadingCausesMoralJourneyReaderJudgmentProtagonistsRoller CoasterCoastersVisceralRudders Author:Chris Abani
“Literature is an aspect of story and story is all that exists to make sense of reality. War is a story. Now you begin to see how powerful story is because it informs our worldview and our every action, our every justification is a story. So how can story not be truly transformative? I've seen it happen in real ways, not in sentimental ways or in the jargon of New Age liberal ideology.” WayWarRealStoriesRealityHappensAgeActionLiteraturePowerfulAspectIdeologyMake SenseJustificationSentimentalNew AgeWorldviewJargon Author:Chris Abani
