Diary
Three Questions for... Ben Okri
Sir Ben Okri sits down for the latest edition of Three Questions for, a new feature in which we cross-examine some of our favorite cultural figures.
What object would you smuggle home from a museum?
I’m torn—between a painting by Vermeer at Buckingham Palace. I almost asked the Queen, a bit cheekily, if I could slip it away under my jacket, and she gave me a very frosty response. So that’s definitely one. Or almost any piece by David Hammons.
Johannes Vermeer, A Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman, early 1660s
Morning person or night person?
I used to be a night person, because night for me was magical, and a certain time of night was—and remains—perfect for creativity. But since becoming a father, I have been compelled to be a morning person. Morning has its special energies too.
The best bit of advice you have ever received?
Something my mother said when I was a kid. Very simple, but very useful for artists: “Little drops of water make a mighty ocean.” It’s a way of reminding me that just being steady—to keep working—builds to something big and beautiful.
–
Sir Ben Okri is a Nigerian-born award-winning poet, playwright, novelist and activist. His books include the Booker Prize–winning The Famished Road and Astonishing the Gods, which was selected as one of the BBC’s “100 novels that shaped our world.” His work has been translated into more than twenty- eight languages.
Read Okri’s short story A Fable About Colour, from Ursula Issue 15.