Quotes from Aminatta Forna

I was always at heart a novelist and wanted to tell a bigger story, so I wanted to create people who told other kinds of truths than literal truths.

What ultimately happened is that my country had a war. I think it would be extraordinary, as a writer, not to want to write about that.

Jung Chang was the first person to tell a grand historical, political story through a personal narrative.

I don't have very many little fetishes, but the one I do have is that I like a particular mug to drink out of. It's just a small china cup, and I get very upset if my husband moves it.

I was brought up in a household where you stood up to be counted.

I get a very vague idea and - perhaps because I once was a journalist, or perhaps because that's what made me want to be a journalist - I go off and explore it for a bit, rather than mapping out a plot and then filling in the research.

A hospital is a good place to set various dilemmas.