My stories are very compact. I want them to say the most complex things in the simplest way.

I was born at six months, and I weighed 900 grams [less than two pounds]. I have a very heroic birth story.

According to Gur's theory of boredom, everything that happens in the world today is because of boredom: love, war, inventions, fake fireplaces - ninety-five percent of all that is pure boredom.

I have to admit that talking authoritatively about my students' stories can make me feel, at times, like an astronaut who has just landed on a new planet and insists on giving guided tours to its inhabitants.

If we're a family and your brother wishes you death, it's not a very happy family.

What connects me so strongly to Israel is the fact that I'm second generation.

Etgar means "challenge." And my family name is Keret, which means "urban." So my name is "urban challenge." My joke is, it's a good description of a birth but a strange name for a human being.