Even with all of its changing, Brooklyn's architecture still feels like home, the language feels like home. It's changing so quickly that it's surprising. It's surprising still, when someone looks kind of askance to see me walking towards them.

I believe in one day and someday and this perfect moment called Now.

I couldnt be a writer without hope. I think I became a writer because Im pretty optimistic.

Diversity is about all of us, and about us having to figure out how to walk through this world together.

There is something so deeply visceral about libraries for me-rooms and rooms full of people dreaming and remembering.

For me as a writer, it was understanding that we're so far behind in our way of dealing with death. We put someone in the ground, we bury them or we burn them, and then we're supposed to just move on and kind of get over it.

My favorite reader is one that revisits books and gets something new out of them each time.