My parents were founders of the Cuban Communist Party, and I grew up extremely poor.

What I do believe is that there is always a relationship between writing and reading, a constant interplay between the writer on the one hand and the reader on the other

Cigars must be smoked one at a time, peaceably, with all the leisure in the world. Cigarettes are of the instant, Cigars are for eternity.

I have assiduously avoided calling my books novels

My parents were founders of the Cuban Communist Party, and I grew up extremely poor.

You are just in the middle of a struggle with words which are really very stubborn things, with a blank page, with the damn thing that you use to write with, a pen or a typewriter, and you forget all about the reader when you are doing that

I do not believe in inspiration, but I must have a title in order to work, otherwise I am lost