One of the things that struck me when I came to the U.S. was discovering American poverty.

I didn't want to be apologetic about my love story, and I think to be willing to write about love you have to be willing to sound foolish. I wanted to write about foolish and goofy love and different relationships. I wanted to write about interracial relationships in a way that does not pretend as if race does not exist.

I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there.

She could not complain about not having shoes when the person she was talking to had no legs.

I think human beings exist in a social world. I write realistic fiction, and so it isn't that surprising that the social realities of their existence would be part of the story.

One of the things that struck me when I came to the U.S. was discovering American poverty.

And it's wrong of you to think that love leaves room for nothing else. It's possible to love something and still condescend to it.