I'm still primarily interested in observing as closely as possible the shifting weather between people. I think the master of this sort of thing, and a writer who has meant a great deal to me, is Henry James: there's a magical way that he has of turning the slightest gesture into a whole world of drama and feeling.

I studied opera, and when I left conservatory I told myself I would never sing in public again.

I'm not sure any narrative model has been more important for me than Benjamin Britten's chamber operas.

Bulgaria is a fascinating, beautiful, difficult country, and I fell in love with it.

I think it's harder to avoid reflection on those larger patterns of history or society when they so insistently call into question your right to exist.

Whenever I go to New York I try to soak up as much live music as I can, including as many nights at the opera as I can manage.

There are lots of big books that have gay characters - or, more commonly, a gay character - in secondary roles, but seldom are their lives, and especially their sexual lives, on center stage.