My search is always to find ways to chronicle, to share and to document stories about people, just everyday people. Stories that offer transformation, that lean into transcendence, but that are never sentimental, that never look away from the darkest… — Chris Abani Copy Share Image
What I've come to learn is that the world is never saved in grand messianic gestures, but in the simple accumulation of gentle, soft, almost invisible acts of compassion, everyday acts of compassion. In South Africa they have a phrase… — Chris Abani Copy Share Image
I think it's an aggregation of all of the small acts that are really transformative. I think a group of small acts transform the… — Chris Abani Copy Share Image
“He too, it seemed, had come to believe that he could somehow escape history. That it was possible, and even desirable, to live in… — Chris Abani Copy Share Image
My mom taught me to read when I was two or three. When I was five I read and wrote well enough to do… — Chris Abani Copy Share Image
You know, you can steel your heart against any kind of trouble, any kind of horror. But the simple act of kindness from a… — Chris Abani Copy Share Image
Fiction is more dangerous than nonfiction because it can seduce better. I think we all know this, know that deeper truths can be approached… — Chris Abani Copy Share Image
My grand uncle was a traditional priest, and he would always say to me as a kid, 'We stand in our own light,' which… — Chris Abani Copy Share Image
Unlike other books or TV shows or sometimes life, my narrative worlds are stripped of implicit moral centers. There is only what you bring.… — Chris Abani Copy Share Image
Nigerians are everywhere. There's an old joke, particularly about the Ibos, that when you finally land on Mars, you're going to find a Nigerian… — Chris Abani Copy Share Image
“Circuses are about entertainment and juggling and animals and all that shit. Sideshows are about freaks, about people and the limits of acceptability. We… — Chris Abani Copy Share Image