I'm named after Jane Austen's Emma, and I've always been able to relate to her. She's strong, confident but quite tactless.

I've been writing full-time since I was 23.

I found motherhood a crash course in existentialism (what is my purpose in life, am I mistress or slave of my destiny, when the hell do I get some sleep?) and [the book] ROOM was the result.

I really like to keep my palette small but to be very intense, very myopic.

The great thing about a short story is that it doesn't have to trawl through someone's whole life; it can come in glancingly from the side.

In the world I notice persons are nearly always stressed and have no time...I don't know how persons with jobs do the jobs and all the living as well...I guess the time gets spread very thin like butter all over the world, the roads and houses and playgrounds and stores, so there's only a little smear of time on each place, then everyone has to hurry on to the next bit.

I was anticipating that some readers might misread [the book] ROOM itself as a hymn to homeschooling.