In the end, long life is the reward, strength, and beauty.

That heartbreaking moment when you finish an amazing book, and you are forced to return to reality.

I saw my ex-husband in the street. I was sitting on the steps of the new library. Hello, my life, I said. We had once been married for twenty-seven years, so I felt justified. He said, What? What life? No life of mine.

I do lots of reading and speaking at many universities about literature and also about politics, which is as much a part of my life as the literature.

I really believe one of the jobs of a writer is to stretch as far as you can into other voices.

If I miss anything, it's being able to hang out in the city of New York meeting people and talking to them on the corner.

To translate a poem from thinking into English takes all night.