My mum and dad were speaking all the time about, 'In Sudan we do this,' and 'In Egypt we do that,' so I was very aware of cultural differences. I was confused growing up; it gave me a feeling of being an outsider watching others. But I think this is good for a writer.

When I was growing up, we spoke Egyptian, we ate Egyptian food, we had other Egyptian friends. It was my father's preference.

I was 24 years old and stuck in a strange place with two boisterous little boys, and my husband was working offshore on the oil rigs. It was a life for which I wasn't prepared.

That's what religion teaches: that life is a temporary thing which is going to dissolve one day.

I think when one becomes very close to another person, it can mean loving and intimacy, but on the other hand, there's also the danger of one destructing another under the name of love. I think that is the scariest thing for me in various relationships.

I've never believed in or understood romantic love. Love at first sight was always a complete joke to me.

I sang for my family. And I think probably the first time I sang and got paid for it, I was about 6 or 7.

I went to Marymount College in New York City with a lot of kids whose parents paid their way, and I wouldn't even have thought of asking my parents - they couldn't afford it, not with six kids!