I remember reading The Bluest Eye when I was a young parent, and something opened in me. That's the highest aspiration.

I love the idea that more people would read short fiction. I think it's such a humanizing form. It softens the boundaries between people.

That underscored this idea that when we're reading a book or writing a book, you're in an act of co-creation. The reader and the writer are both trying to dress up and present their best selves and then there's that moment, when suddenly, as a reader, you're not exactly you anymore, and likewise, as a writer, you're not really you.

I'm from a pretty working-class background, and I really worked hard in my life to eradicate those parts of myself that were stupidly trapped in that world.Those of us who come up that way made a series of choices to benefit ourselves and make ourselves more generous and open.

It's a big world, and I really like it.

I have a lot of theories about the beneficial effects of fiction, but I'm always trying to get away from them a little bit.

I think if someone could demonstrate to me that fiction did no good, I would still do it, because I think it does good for me.