The three things that help writing the most are living, writing, and reading. In that order.

Nothing is more acceptable than what we are born into.

Season of Migration to the North, by Tayeb Salih, is an eloquent and restrained portrait of one man's exile. It is a rare narrative in that it charts a life divided between England and Sudan. Without a doubt it is one of the finest Arabic novels of the 20th century, and Denys Johnson-Davies' translationdoes the original justice.

I wanted to wear her as you would a piece of clothing, to fold into her ribs, be a stone in her mouth.

There and then, sitting beside her and within the strength of my adoration, I felt invincible.

Books written out of fire give me a great deal of pleasure. You get the sense that the world for these writers could not have continued if the book hadn't been written. When you come across a book like that it is a privilege.