“For me, being in prison writing in an African language was a way of saying: "Even if you put me in prison, I will keep on writing in the language which made you put me in prison."” IfsWayWritingMadeLanguagePrison Author:Ngugi wa Thiong'o
“It was a revelation for me, in a practical sense, that you could write in an African language and still reach an audience beyond that language through the art of translation.” WritingArtStillsLanguageAudiencePracticalsRevelationsTranslations Author:Ngugi wa Thiong'o
“Writing in African languages became a topic of discussion in conferences, in schools, in classrooms; the issue is always being raised - so it's no longer "in the closet," as it were. It's part of the discussion going on about the future of African literature. The same questions are there in Native American languages, they're there in native Canadian languages, they're there is some marginalized European languages, like say, Irish. So what I thought was just an African problem or issue is actually a global phenomenon about relationships of power between languages and cultures.” WritingProblemSchoolCultureLiteratureLanguageIssuesRaisedDiscussionNativePhenomenonClassroomNative AmericanClosetsTopicsConferencesMarginalizedAmerican Language Author:Ngugi wa Thiong'o
“What's good about writing is that when you write novels or fiction, people can see that the problems in one region are similar to problems in another region.” PeopleWritingProblemFictionNovelRegions Author:Ngugi wa Thiong'o
“I'm writing for those people in Kenya, but in Irvine and in New York.” PeopleWritingNew YorkKenya Author:Ngugi wa Thiong'o