I think I'm a very religious person. I think I believe in God as much as any man does. I don't only believe in God, I know there's God.

Now, about that mulatto teacher and me. There was no love there for each other. There was not even respect. We were enemies if anything. He hated me, and I knew it, and he knew I knew it. I didn't like him, but I needed him, needed him to tell me something that none of the others could or would.

In all my stories and novels, no one ever escapes Louisiana. Maybe that is because my soul never left Louisiana, although my body did go to California.

Anytime a child is born, the old people look in his face and ask him if he's the One.

I suppose I started writing seriously at 16 years old. I thought I wrote a novel at 16 and sent it to New York! They sent it back because it wasn't novel.

I have learned as much about writing about my people by listening to blues and jazz and spirituals as I have by reading novels.

I try to write something that would interest anybody and keep them turning the page. You must have a plot and good storyline.