Here's the problem: we are living in a time when the act of reading is changing. The nature of a reader's attention is changing. The capacity for deep literary engagement is changing.
Ayad AkhtarI think of myself as a narrative artist. I don't think of myself as a novelist or screenwriter or playwright. All of those modalities of processing and experiencing narrative are obviously very different, and I'm not sure that I prefer any one to the other. I think the novel gives you the opportunity to have a kind of interiority that you can't have in the theater, which is pure exteriority.
Ayad AkhtarReligion has been an important part of my understanding, my inquiry into what it means to be human.
Ayad AkhtarI don't feel that as an artist my job is to offer PR propaganda, whether for the good or for the bad.
Ayad Akhtar