From journalism I learned to write under pressure, to work with deadlines, to have limited space and time, to conduct and interview, to find information, to research, and above all, to use language as efficiently as possible and to remember always that there is a reader out there.

I have a very acute sense of place and time, so all of my stories are rooted in a place and a time.

Although women do two-thirds of the world's labor, they own less than one percent of the world's assets.

With women the best aphrodisiac is words.

Life is very mysterious and there are many things we don't know. And there are elements of magic realism in every culture, everywhere. It's just accepting that we don't know everything and everything is possible.

In my private circle I am a mother, grandmother, wife, friend, daughter... the success means nothing to my small tribe.

But I don't want more things than I need, either.