I honestly never intended food to occupy so much of my creative work. Food-writing often seems about to plummet straight into sentimentality. I think food can be dangerous to write about because if you don't manage to mediate it somehow, it can be the worst sort of greeting card.
Diana Abu-JaberConsider the difference between the first and third person in poetry [...] It's like the difference between looking at a person and looking through their eyes.
Diana Abu-JaberAs a literary device, sugar and pastry carried so many nuances - the sweetness of the past, the danger of overeating and addiction, the political and environmental devastation of plantations - it was just what a book needed.
Diana Abu-JaberIf you only write for 15 minutes at a time, you can write a book and still have time for Legos.
Diana Abu-JaberThe daily writing practice is something I used to hear batted around a lot in writing workshops - which is probably why I dropped out of all the writing workshops. I wish I could take credit for innovating a new approach to writing, but the truth is that I've managed to write books despite myself. I'm lazy and ungovernable and undisciplined, but I do have a lot of anxiety about never amounting to anything and ending up as a bag lady.
Diana Abu-Jaber