I find I have to touch what I am working on every day, or a deep-seated dread kicks in that is very hard to overcome.

With domestic adoption, you get a form, you fill it out, and there are these boxes: African-American, African-American and Hispanic, and you check the boxes that you're comfortable with. Race is completely open in that regard.

My first two novels were set in the past, and that freed me up in a lot of ways; it allowed me to find my way into my story and my characters through research.

The past always sort of haunts us and perhaps inspires us in some ways.

As writers, we don't just need to write about poverty or war or the immigrant experience.

I think that when the world feels safe and secure, we probably feel more that way in our personal lives. What goes on in the world affects us, unequivocally.

History releases me from my own experience and jogs my fictional imagination.