All this classifying, it seems to me, is the very antithesis of literature. The way of literature is to seek universality. Writers try to reach beyond those things that divide us: culture, class, gender, race. Given the chance, we would resist classification. I have never met a writer who wishes to be described as a female writer, gay writer, black writer, Asian writer or African writer.
For the Guardian, Aminatta Forna delves into the problems and limitations of labels and argues that writers should write outside their own experience, as long as they do it well.
