Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a manchild was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte.

Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there's a big difference between 'being a writer'…

I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasn't going to be one of those people who die wondering, 'What if?' I would keep putting my drea…

In my writing, as much as I could, I tried to find the good, and praise it.