16 Petina Gappah Quotes for You to Enjoy

Petina Gappah

Zimbabwean Writer

Born: 1971

About Because Country Life People Zimbabwe

Related authors: Ayn Rand Dr. Seuss H. L. Mencken Napoleon Hill Niccolo Machiavelli Thomas Mann Thomas Paine Voltaire

The struggle for Zimbabwe lit up the imagination of people around the world. In London, New York, Accra and Lagos, bell-bottomed men and women with big hair and towering platform shoes sang the dream of Zimbabwe in the words of the eponymous song by Bob Marley: Every man has the right to decide his own destiny. Petina Gappah

Man Struggle Women People Song Words World Men Men And Women Hair Big Shoes Own Every Imagination Destiny Marley Dream London New Towering Around His Big Hair Up York New York Lit Decide Bob Bob Marley Sang Platform Right Zimbabwe Every Man

Zimbabweans, I've come to believe, we are very passive-aggressive people. We don't like conflict; we don't like confrontation, so we find all sorts of ways of avoiding that conflict and confrontation. We are not allowed to talk about bad things that go on in families. Petina Gappah

Conflict People Bad Things Believe Ways Bad Find About Allowed Come Like Talk Sort Go Very Families Confrontation Avoiding Things

There's a Shona saying: 'chakafukidza dzimba matenga' - 'What covers the home is the roof,' or 'Every home has its secrets.' Petina Gappah

Saying Home Roof Every Secrets Covers

I get irritated by the term 'African writer', because it doesn't mean anything to me. Petina Gappah

Me Writer Term Because Get African Anything Irritated Mean

I speak English. I dream in it. I cannot separate my English from my Shona; I see the world with those two languages. Petina Gappah

Speak World Those Dream See Cannot Separate Languages English Two

It was one of those early mid-life crises, really. I started asking myself, 'What is it that I want from my life?' This question kept haunting me: 'Do I want to be a lawyer who always wanted to be a writer, or do I actually want to be a writer? Petina Gappah

I guess you could say I'm lucky because I've known a Zimbabwe that didn't have Robert Mugabe leading it. One of the saddest things about Zimbabwe is there are so many hidden casualties of the Mugabe government's misrule. They're not just casualties that you immediately see. Petina Gappah

The first thing I remember when I moved to a school in the suburbs was, 'My gosh, all these books!' The classroom and school had a library; I'd never seen so many books in my life! It was something we didn't have in the township. Petina Gappah

These are the kinds of names that Zimbabweans like: names that have positive qualities. Like, Praise is a very popular name; Loveness is a very popular name. Petina Gappah

Positive Kinds Name Like Names Qualities Praise Very Popular

If I truly had the courage of my convictions, I would be a full-blown comic novelist. Petina Gappah

Courage Convictions Would Would-Be Had Comic Truly Novelist

I always say to people that Zimbabweans are the funniest people in Africa; we even laugh at funerals. And it's true. I mean, there are so many jokes about funerals. There are so many jokes about AIDS. We find ways of coping with pain by laughing at it and by laughing at ourselves. Petina Gappah

I see myself in public service in Zimbabwe. I would prefer an advisory role - cabinet secretary, minister of trade or the arts, or something like that. I don't want to be just a writer. Petina Gappah

I was one of the first six black kids to integrate a formerly all-white school. I remember being looked at all the time and people laughing at my hair. I was also very self-conscious about the food I had for lunch. I had egg sandwiches, and the other mothers gave kids fancy stuff like bologna and Marmite. It took about a year to settle in. Petina Gappah

Time Food People Remember School Black Hair First Year Lunch Other Gave Settle Took Kids Laughing About About A Year Had Self-Conscious Stuff Like Looked Also Mothers Integrate Very Egg Six Being Fancy Sandwiches

Petina Gappah Quotes

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