English novelist known for her explorations of identity and multiculturalism, including the novel White Teeth
When you're young and writing your first novel, you don't know what you're doing. And that's good. Ignorance gives you freedom.
Shame is a powerful feeling. When you try to write about your own life, you have to confront it directly. Writers often come from places of pain, and shame is part of that pain.
Education gives you the tools, but your voice is something you must find yourself. It takes time and the courage to be yourself on the page.
Language is never neutral. Every word we choose carries political weight and historical memory.
How do you write? First, you must listen. You have to listen to how people actually speak, and respect that.
Much of writing is an attempt to convey the inexpressible. You know something, but you can't find the words for it. It's torture and pleasure at the same time.
In literature, we're interested in people who make the wrong choices. Moral clarity is boring. Human life is messy and contradictory.