36 Uzodinma Iweala Quotes for You to Enjoy

Uzodinma Iweala

American Author

Born: Nov 5, 1982

Africa Me People Think World You

Around the world, our cities are not the idealised open, accessible, and cosmopolitan spaces of our dreams. More often than not, they are sectioned and controlled purviews of the radically wealthy, surrounded by clusters of have-nots. Uzodinma Iweala

Dreams World Our Our Dreams Cities Wealthy Cosmopolitan More Open Around Accessible Surrounded Than Controlled Often Spaces Clusters Radically

European authors often write books about the rest of the world that profess a vision of shared humanity but fall far short, casting the other as exotic or dangerous. Uzodinma Iweala

Humanity World Dangerous Vision Rest Fall Other Books About Casting Write Shared Exotic Authors Often Short Far Profess European

Washington, D.C., is not a subtle city. Unlike the capitals of other once-great powers which, many hundreds of years old, present a more seamless meshing of monumental memory and daily life, D.C. is constructed to shout, 'Here I am! I am powerful!' to the world. Uzodinma Iweala

Life Daily Memory World I Am Old Other Unlike Hundreds Hundreds Of Years Monumental City More Constructed Powerful Powers Am Years Subtle Which Shout Seamless Many Washington Daily Life Present Here

I think, all too often, this society has too monolithic a definition of what a black American is. Uzodinma Iweala

Black Think Society Too I Think Definition American Often

The kidnapped person is so tantalizingly close, kept alive by a devastating hope. Kidnapping or hostage-taking is perhaps the most disturbing form of terror because it turns this hope into a liability that can paralyze. Uzodinma Iweala

Hope Alive Kidnapped Kidnapping Paralyze Disturbing Devastating Perhaps Most Because Terror Close Person Form Turns Kept Liability

I'm a black man in the United States, and there's no two ways about that. I have a shared common experience with other black men, and through that, there's an automatic understanding. Uzodinma Iweala

Man Experience Black Men Understanding Other States Ways About Through Shared Common Automatic United United States Two

I'll confess that, from an early age, I was a huge fan of President Reagan because my parents bought me an enormous stuffed monkey that they named President Reagan - yes, I get it now. 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 how people in New York would speak about some of the issues people were facing. At the time, 2006-ish, there were a number of big media campaigns to raise awareness about HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Uzodinma Iweala

Work Time Health Me People Speak Big Awareness Would Some About Struck Facing Between New How Disconnect Sub-Saharan Sub-Saharan Africa Doing Issues Were Campaigns York HIV New York Africa After Low-Level Media Right Started Raise Number

There are skills you pick up on in a clinical environment in terms of how to ask questions, what to look for, how to listen that serve one well when trying to write. Uzodinma Iweala

You Write Pick Environment Look Terms Well How Clinical Questions Up Trying Listen Ask Skills Serve

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

Success Great Book Writing First Mentors Had Great Success Teachers

Sometimes you just wanna go out, see your action movie, be done with it, come home. You know, and, like, you see 'The Matrix' or whatever, you see whatever film it is, and you're like, 'Oh cool,' whatever. Uzodinma Iweala

Every time a Hollywood director shoots a film about Africa that features a Western protagonist, I shake my head - because Africans, real people though we may be, are used as props in the West's fantasy of itself. Uzodinma Iweala

Time Director People Every Every Time Though About Shake Features Head Props Protagonist Because Real West Western Itself Real People Shoots May Africa African Fantasy Hollywood Used Film

Lagos is sometimes emblematic of disorder. In traffic, drivers make their own rules. There is a constant war between our street hawkers and our various forms of law enforcement deployed to eradicate the 'indiscipline' of poverty. Uzodinma Iweala

For me, I am really interested in how I can stretch myself to produce things. If, in the process, others take note and recognise that, then wonderful. Uzodinma Iweala

Myself Me Wonderful I Am Others Recognise I Can Take How Am Process Interested Note Produce Then Really Things Stretch

America is decidedly not 'post-racial.' Uzodinma Iweala

America Decidedly

Whether as living humans or as mythological figures, ancestors have always played an important role in the African popular and literary imagination. Sometimes, as in Amos Tutuola's famous short novels, they directly influence events. More often, as in the works of Chinua Achebe, both living and dead ancestors are sages offering valuable advice. Uzodinma Iweala

Events Sometimes Valuable Important Advice Living Imagination Ancestors More Directly Both Mythological Dead Always Important Role Offering Role Often Short African Famous Influence Literary Whether Figures Popular Works Novels Played Humans

War in Africa is hardly a new phenomenon, nor are voices telling its stories of terror and triumph. Yet some of the continent's most devastating conflicts - and the literature born from the experiences of their survivors - have often gone unnoticed in the West. Uzodinma Iweala

War Gone Unnoticed Telling Some Born Triumph Voices Devastating New Most Terror Continent Nor West Survivors Often Africa Experiences Stories Conflicts Literature Hardly Phenomenon

There are multiple levels of 'we' and multiple groups that can constitute this idea of who we are. We need to be aware of who we are including and excluding. Uzodinma Iweala

Constitute Idea Excluding Who Multiple Groups Including Aware Levels Need