I write books and either people read them or they don't read them. The rise of Facebook or e-books doesn't change the difficulty level of writing sentences and thinking up new ideas.

The fallout from slavery is ongoing. I am not sure the issue of race in America will ever be completely solved.

Google "brooklyn writer" and you'll get, Did you mean: the future of literature as we know it?

Sanctimony and self-regard are as American as smallpox blankets and supersize meals.

I think being a writer was a crappy job when you just had typewriters. It was crappy when we just had ink and paper. And it's sort of crappy now. It's always just you and the page. That doesn't change.

Pain could be killed. Sadness could not, but the drugs did shut its mouth for a time.

Early on my career, I figured out that I just have to write the book I have to write at that moment. Whatever else is going on in the culture is just not that important. If you could get the culture to write your book, that would be great. But the culture can't write your book.