Uzodinma Iweala

As Americans, I think we're a very entitled bunch.

— Uzodinma Iweala

No one can really relate to somebody who has given up entirely.

— Uzodinma Iweala

I don't know if I want to be a writer.

— Uzodinma Iweala

America is decidedly not 'post-racial.'

— Uzodinma Iweala

It takes time for people to understand how to hold leaders accountable.

— Uzodinma Iweala

As an adult, I discovered Claritin, and my whole world changed.

— Uzodinma Iweala

Sometimes writing it is a good way to understand something.

— Uzodinma Iweala

I've been writing since I was really young.

— Uzodinma Iweala

Like all things, cities must change - even a city as enamoured of the past and memory as D.C.

— Uzodinma Iweala

The first time I ever cast a vote in my 1992 Blessed Sacrament School poll, I voted for Ross Perot because -…

— Uzodinma Iweala

“And now the woman is praying to God…… I am laughing laughing because God is forgetting everybody in this country.”

— Uzodinma Iweala

D.C. is in my blood, my diction, my sensibility and style. I am, though, in love with a city that cannot fully…

— Uzodinma Iweala

I've had great writing teachers and mentors and great success with my first book.

— Uzodinma Iweala

I don't think there is enough understanding of how diverse black America actually is.

— Uzodinma Iweala

I would say, number one, don't worry about getting published. Just write. Number two, just write. Three is make sure you read.

— Uzodinma Iweala

U.N.-orchestrated gatherings are typically the death of all spontaneity and innovation.

— Uzodinma Iweala

In terms of medicine, I've generally been pretty interested in public health issues as they relate to sub-Saharan Africa on a broad…

— Uzodinma Iweala

Why do Angelina Jolie and Bono receive overwhelming attention for their work in Africa while Nwankwo Kanu or Dikembe Mutombo, Africans both,…

— Uzodinma Iweala

Sometimes you just wanna go out, see your action movie, be done with it, come home. You know, and, like, you see…

— Uzodinma Iweala

When I speak about 'we,' it gets very complex very quickly. Having grown up in the United States, but also being very…

— Uzodinma Iweala

We grew up going to church, and I believe in God. I don't know that I have the ability to define what…

— Uzodinma Iweala

The images that we see of Africa are so... that are so engrained in our minds are of this place that is…

— Uzodinma Iweala

I think the more complex your idea of who someone is or who a particular group is, the less able you are…

— Uzodinma Iweala

Washington, D.C., is not a subtle city. Unlike the capitals of other once-great powers which, many hundreds of years old, present a…

— Uzodinma Iweala

“I'm walking walking walking to where the sun is setting. I'm looking at it and wanting to catch it in my hand…

— uzodinma iweala

I don't think that one should beat himself or herself over the head if immediately you're not like Jesus Christ or, you…

— Uzodinma Iweala

Nigeria is a difficult place. It is not a country for the faint of heart. On a good day, when our larger…

— Uzodinma Iweala

I fundamentally believe that no one can teach you how to write - finding out how to write a story is part…

— Uzodinma Iweala

I'm not a propaganda machine. I tell things how I see them. When I say, for example, that corruption is not the…

— Uzodinma Iweala

Right after undergrad, I started doing low-level work on health issues in sub-Saharan Africa, and what struck me was the disconnect between…

— Uzodinma Iweala

“so we were playing all this game then and thinking that to be a soldier was to be the best thing in…

— Uzodinma Iweala

Whether as living humans or as mythological figures, ancestors have always played an important role in the African popular and literary imagination.…

— Uzodinma Iweala

Our racial past and future is something that we Americans must address.

— Uzodinma Iweala

Medicine has an immediate impact, the ability to do good. Writing is such a solitary activity.

— Uzodinma Iweala

'Beasts of No Nation' began when I read an article about child soldiers in Sierra Leone during my final year of high…

— Uzodinma Iweala

Kidnapping causes a long-term rupture in the psyche of those kidnapped and of those who wait for their return. It doesn't end.

— Uzodinma Iweala

I feel like it's not Africans who are afraid of China's rise in Africa. It's the West that's afraid of China's rise…

— Uzodinma Iweala

It's true that people will take advantage of you in Nigeria, but this happens everywhere in the world.

— Uzodinma Iweala

It's a beautiful thing, the desire to help a fellow human who is maybe in a rough spot.

— Uzodinma Iweala

There are books that are made for you to sit and puzzle over and spend time with.

— Uzodinma Iweala