Writing is my job. I don't think of it as art.

There is no light without shadow, just as there is no happiness without pain.

Giving women education, work, the ability to control their own income, inherit and own property, benefits the society. If a woman is empowered, her children and her family will be better off. If families prosper, the village prospers, and eventually so does the whole country.

Sometimes journalists ask me, "What's the message?" There is no message. I think that fiction should not be trying to give messages. Just tell a story.

We need a global approach to this from all sides. We need to educate people, we need the scientists to create new technologies, we need the engineers to create the networks, we need every human being to be aware of how precious water is and save it. Everybody has to be involved in a very firm and assertive way.

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

Before I start writing, before I have an idea of where and when the story happens, I research it thoroughly.