All writers write about the past, and I try to make it come alive so you can see what happened.

All writers write about the past, and I try to make it come alive so you can see what happened.

How do people come up with a date and a time to take life from another man? Who made them God?

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

We looked at each other, and I could see in those big reddened eyes that he was not going to scream. He was full of anger - and who could blame him? - but he was no fool. He needed me, and he wanted me here, if only to insult me.

I write with as much objectivity as I can.

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