Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith FRSL is an English novelist, essayist, and short story writer...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth25 October 1975
ended family keeps people realize school thinking time
In my situation, every time I write a sentence, I'm thinking not only of the people I ended up in college with but my siblings, my family, my school friends, the people from my neighborhood. I've come to realize that this is an advantage, really: it keeps you on your toes.
certain people themselves time type willing writer
Books are not brands. Some people are very willing to see themselves as a brand, but you can't be a certain type of writer to a certain type of person all the time. It will kill you.
time
We cannot be all the writers all the time. We can only be who we are.
time
Normally, young writers have all the time in the world and they don't always use it well.
childcare children people time
People with children will know this: when the childcare is over, it's over on the dot. You immediately have to go into child mode; there's no down time.
everybody maybe might pleasure time useful
It might be useful to distinguish between pleasure and joy. But maybe everybody does this very easily, all the time, and only I am confused.
self good-times knows
Your mid-thirties is a good time because you know a fair amount, you have some self-control.
comic english
There is no bigger crime, in the English comic novel, than thinking you are right.
anathema life somebody unreal
I just can't get used to the idea of being somebody unreal in people's minds. I can't live my life like that. And it's just anathema to being a writer. It's not healthy.
listened matters people politics
Young people understand the world. They should be listened to on matters of politics and world organization. But they know nothing of their own lives.
country desperate experience odd peculiar somebody
There is a kind of desperate need for somebody to tell everyone what to do, which I find really peculiar in America. And then when you tell them, they're not interested, because it's also a country where everybody's opinion is their opinion, and they really don't give a damn what you think. So it's a very odd experience.
asked exactly joyful life proves sure
If you asked me if I wanted more joyful experiences in my life, I wouldn't be at all sure I did, exactly because it proves such a difficult emotion to manage.
lots love outside sing
I love to dance, and sing - in the shower, not in public. I'm too old to go raving, but my fondest memories are of that kind of thing - dancing, with lots of people, outside if possible.
black dad guy life lives millions people short throughout white
My life is black and white and mixed. My mother's a Rastafarian, my dad was a short white guy - it's not an affectation. It's also the lives of millions of people throughout the world.