I must say, in the case of "Room," both the book and the film, I don't think being a lesbian author held me back at all.

It’s called mind over matter. If we don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” When a bit of me hurts, I always mind.

Writing stories is my way of scratching that itch: my escape from the claustrophobia of individuality. It lets me, at least for a while, live more than one life, walk more than one path. Reading, of course, can do the same.

Any parent knows how to be the ideal parent.

Everyone's got a different story.

Maybe I’m a human, but I’m a me-and-Ma as well.

I actually tried to think of the story [Room] in gender-neutral terms at first and said to myself, "OK, would this work if it were a man?" Well no, you can't make a man pregnant, so it's got to be a woman.