In the same way in which music is made of notes and a painting is made of lines of colors, the matter of literature are words.

Literature is about telling stories.

… that sour blend of loneliness and lust for recognition, shyness and extravagance, deep insecurity and self-intoxicated egomania, that drives poets and writers out of their rooms to seek each other out, to rub shoulders with one another, bully, joke, condescend, feel each other, lay a hand on a shoulder or an arm round a waist, to chat and argue with little nudges, to spy a little, sniff out what is cooking in other pots, flatter, disagree, collude, be right, take offence, apologise, make amends, avoid each other, and seek each other’s company again.

This bloody conflict has been going on for much too long. It is doing terrible things to Israelis, to Palestinians. One of the terrible things it is causing is indifference.

All my novels are rooted in their time and in their place.

Universally, not only in Israel, people want to feel good about themselves. We all want to feel good to some extent.

All of my novels are democracies.