Because sometimes you have no control over life and it keeps you far away from who you love.

What I don't like about America is not necessarily an American thing; it's a capitalist thing. This is the Vatican of capitalism.

When I came to America, I was already a writer, already published in Bosnia. I was planning to go back, but I had no choice but to stay here after the civil war, so I enrolled at Northwestern in a master's program and studied American literature.

No reader owes me anything - I am owed nothing for my noble efforts, because my writing was always unconditional, always coming out of inner necessity.

To me there's no difference between a book of stories and a novel - they're just slightly different shapes.

What you demand from storytelling is a moral - even political - import. I tend to shun that didactic aspect.

As long as there are living human beings, there will be language and stories.