"At 16, I started reading trashy stuff, anything slightly naughty and risque." — Romesh Gunesekera

Imaginative writing, to me, is a way of discovering who we are and what we have to contend with; discovering what is out there and also what is not there. It enables me to think and explore and make something new with language while trying to make sense of our lives.

I want to keep an inner life alive and, with luck, somebody else's, too.

The most appealing side-effect of Sri Lankan cricket from where I stand, shuffling words, has been linguistic.

I must believe that in words we will find what in fury we cannot.