Binyavanga Wainaina

“When art as an expression starts to appear, without prompting, all over the suburbs and villages of this country, what we are saying is: we are confident enough to create our own living, our own entertainment, our own aesthetic. Such an aesthetic will not be donated to us from the corridors of a university; or from the Ministry of Culture, or by the French Cultural Centre. It will come from the individual creations of a thousand creative people”

“I, Binyavanga Wainaina, quite honestly swear I have known I am a homosexual since I was five.”

“I knew I didn't want to come out in the 'New Yorker'; it just felt wrong. It needed an African conversation.”

“I'm an African. I was brought up here; my home is here. Being an Afropolitan, I am here to stay.”

“I'm not even sure I want to use the term 'coming out.'”

“Cloud travel is well and good when you have mastered the landings. I never have. I must live, not dream about living.”

“There is no country in the world with the diversity, confidence and talent and black pride like Nigeria.”

“Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel prize.”

“Always end your book with Nelson Mandela saying something about rainbows or renaissances. Because you care.”

“Every one, we, we homosexuals, are people, and we need our oxygen to breathe.”

“I am quite excited that Moi is leaving. Kenyans have changed. We have a free press, and it is no longer a situation of 'follow in my footsteps.'”

“I believe in, and will to the best of my ability fight for, equal rights and freedom of opinion for everyone, regardless of colour, religion, nationality, orientation - you know the rest.”

“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?'”

“The time we are living in is the greatest opportunity to be queer, and it is almost the most dangerous time because everything is up for grabs.”

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

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

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

“We are a mixed up people. We have mixed up ways of naming, too... When my father's brothers and sisters first went to colonial schools, they had to produce a surname. They also had to show they were good Christians by adopting a western name. They adopted my grandfather's name as surname. Wainaina.”

“I love playing with words and texture.”

“What is astonishing is that globalised technology, like Whatsapp and Viber, really gives a lot of leeway to negotiating spaces and to keeping one's identity. So people are able to be more receptive as a gay community to be part of an environment that is going to challenge the law.”