Agriculture is the #1 source of deforestation. By some estimates it accounts for 80% of the forests chopped down in the tropics.
I was a lot younger - when I wrote Water Lilies. I was like 26. It felt so natural to write about adolescence.
Obviously, I can't tell the story of what it is to be a black girl, but maybe I can tell something else. Girlhood is not about what it's like to be a black girl, it's about what it's like to be a girl.
I intentionally leave adults out in my stories, not to say that they're not in charge or that they don't care, or that they're failing at what they do. Not at all. It's two things: It's a way to be true to what adolescence feels like, because, okay, your parents may be around, but you still don't want them to be around. What you go through, you go through alone, I think.
Being in a group is a way to actually to speak up, and define yourself in the comfort, and the complexity of the group.
I like to work around identification for the audience, and when there's a grown-up or a moral figure or something like that, people tend to go there.
I want to try different genres. I think I'll still be looking at a strong female character in the center, and identity struggle and transformation.
I always said that when it was time to retire, I would know it, and I would just tip my hat to the crowds.
Finishing races is important, but racing is more important.
It is not advisable to hasten development, because everything needs time. Patience, perseverance and tenacity are fundamental conditions of the development. The pains taken in one's development will be amply rewarded.
Am I one part R&B? Sure, but I'm also part soulful, and I'm old school funk, I'm pop, I'm rock, I'm hip hop, I'm all of those things. I don't wanna be categorized or labeled as just one thing. Don't put me in the box because I'll break out of the box.