You Americans, always peering under people's beds to look for communism.

She rested her head against his and felt, for the first time, what she would often feel with him: a self-affection. He made her like herself.

Race doesn't really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don't have that choice.

My characters are usually composites. I wish I could pretend that I make up all of these characters, but no. I steal from people. But people will say to me, "Oh, that's me!" and I'm thinking, no, that's not you!

Your life belongs to you and you alone.

Creative writing programmes are not very necessary. They just exist so that people like us can make a living.

Our histories cling to us. We are shaped by where we come from.