People do not read, by and large. They watch television.

Hollywood is the model for publishing, more and more. Not just blockbusters either.

First-book novelists and storywriters haven't yet failed and so it's easier to publish them - you can gamble on a success. Whereas someone who has written four books that are highly literary and demanding and require you as a reader. They may not be republished.

I know important literary writers who can't get published.

Stephen King has the exact ability that Charles Dickens had. To get to his readers in spite of or despite anything the reviews say.

My heroes are people like Philip Levine, who is simply like a god to me, as a writer. And he is a very good man, too.

I can't imagine having the courage to ask a publisher to do a whole book of my poems.