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

My first and biggest love was always fiction writing. But it is a very lonely pastime.

In America, where writers are preoccupied with the craft of writing, I always try to introduce this concept of the badly written good story. Turning the hierarchy around and putting passion on top and not craft, because when you just focus on craft, you can write something that is very sterile.

For three months, a person sits and looks at you, imagining a kiss.

My father - I once asked him what was his greatest achievement. He said his greatest achievement was that he fought in five wars in the infantry, always on the front line, and never hurt anybody.

I often give this metaphor where I say that writing short fiction is like surfing, while writing a novel is like navigating with your car. So when you navigate with your car, you want to get somewhere. When you surf, you don't want to get somewhere, you just don't want to fall off your board.

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