Chibundu Onuzo in Conversation with Miss Ojikutu

Miss Ojikutu interviewed Chibundu Onuzo on her blog. We bring you excerpts. You can read the complete interview here.

Which of your major characters would you like to be trapped on a desert island with?
Aunty Precious. She’d cook and I’d signal for ships.

Sell a million copies or win the Nobel Prize for literature?
Nobel because then it’d help me sell a million copies. Two birds with one stone.

Write one classic or have a sustained career of good books?
You can have both. Classics are usually not counted as such until you’re dead or at least well into the twilight of your career. Moby Dick is an excellent example. So you might have what you think is only a sustained career of good books but posterity may judge one or more as classics.

Worst thing about being a writer?
Some people think you sit at home all day doing nothing.

Remember your best and worst reviews? Let’s hear them.
I suffer from amnesia when it comes to these things.

One thing you wish you’d known starting out as an author?
Publishing takes forever.

Besides good writing what other skill do you think is essential to a successful career in writing?
Good writing is actually not essential to success, at least not in pecuniary terms.