I have been blessed in many ways and one of those is to have been born in Africa for me a great treasure house of stories. I have been researching it since my infancy reading about it talking to men and women who have spent their lives in this land living it as I have and loving it as I do. I write almost entirely from my own experience.

If people choose to live their life in a way that does not confront the more troubling aspects of their experience that's fine if it works for them. But it will probably make them uncomfortable if they come up against somebody like me. So they just shouldn't! They shouldn't read my work!

Watching the evening news in 2011 is a strange time-travel experience. 'The CBS Evening News ' 'ABC World News' and 'NBC Nightly News' haven't changed their style over the decades still going for that old-fashioned mix of voice-of-authority pomp and feel-good fluff. The difference is that people aren't watching.

You can use your means in a good and bad way. In German-speaking art we had such a bad experience with the Third Reich when stories and images were used to tell lies. After the war literature was careful not to do the same which is why writers began to reflect on the stories they told and to make readers part of their texts. I do the same.

I feel that between my experience and my mother's breast cancer is a little bit like someone who lives next door. I know what that person looks like and what their daily habits are.

You can learn more from the lows than the highs. The highs are great but the lows make you really look at things in a different way and want to improve. Every player will have both in their careers and I have but what you get is that experience which is so important to perform at your best.

In my experience it's all wonderful with girls until about 16. Around that time boys kind of calm down and start focusing their testosterone. Girls get a little challenging especially for fathers.

I've had a fair amount of experience with snakes and I find them to be pretty honest in terms of how you read their body language and emotions. They'll tell you when they're grumpy. They'll tell you when they're okay.

I find increasingly that the more extreme are the things going on in your life the more cultural reference points fail you. More mythical reference points actually help and you realise that's what myths are for. It's for human beings to process their experience in extremis.

If you're out there stressing on your pro day then you're not going to perform well so I plan on having a little fun. Play a little music while we're out there throwing the football have everybody tapping their toes and bobbing their head and just go out there and make the most of the experience.