I don't even know what a serious literary critic is.

I don't want to force my politics on my readers.

Privileged people don't march and protest; their world is safe and clean and governed by laws designed to keep them happy.

I've written 17 novels, and I've found out that fiction can't keep up with real life.

I remember Stephen King did a fundraiser one time with J.K. Rowling and he was very impressed with her. But we talk a lot about publishing, bookselling, and book writing. He's been around for ten years longer than me and was a bestseller right off the bat. And he's seen and done everything. It's rare to be with somebody who has been through all of that.

I didn't dare think of the future; the past was still happening.

Very few writers understand the complex history and maddening social order of the Mississippi Delta. For Steve Yarbrough, though, it's home turf. He is wickedly observant, funny, cynical, evocative, and he possesses a gift that cannot be taught: he can tell a story.