“Graham Greene said childhood was
the bank balance of the writer. It's
true, and it's out of that bank
balance that you begin to construct
your work. But what Graham
Greene didn't have, I, and many
other writers who are non-white,
have: the need to work against an
undertow of historical ignorance.”
—Caryl Phillips, Interview with Maya Jaggi. Writing Across Worlds: Contemporary Writers
Talk (New York: Routledge, 2004). Originally in Wasafiri 20 (1994).
“My name is
Karim Amir, and I
am an Englishman
born and bred,
almost.”
(See also Andrea Levy, "This Is My England." Guardian 19 February 2000.)
(Details from Westminster
tournament roll, 1511)