Someone who knew me well once accused me of being unromantic. And that's probably true: I don't trust romance.

The history of race relations in America is very different than something like the Holocaust.

People don't make changes because things are wonderful.

Race as a subject only comes about because of what I look like. If I say something truthfully, people say "Oh, she's so angry." If I write about a married person who lives in Vermont, it becomes "Oh, she's autobiographical."

I like to be in my pajamas all day. Sometimes I don't wash for days because I like to read and sit around. I like to eat in bed.

when people say you're charming you are in deep trouble.

I've written a book about my mother, and I don't remember anyone going to Antigua or calling up my mother and verifying her life. There is something about this book that drives people mad with the autobiographical question.