Whether it is better to forget and let wounds heal or remember and learn from the past is a crucial question for all of us, wherever we are.

If you are writing something, you automatically create a certain distance. It can be very little. Even within the same city you imaginatively have a certain distance from your subject, and at the same time, you have to have a connection.

To my mind, forgetting is a risky strategy for living. Memory is essential to us. It is DNA. We need to remember, and we need to imagine. That's why we have books, writing, fiction.

Romesh Gunesekera Quotes