My writing is full of lives I might have led.

My writing is often a way of 'bearing witness' for others who lack the education and the opportunity to tell their own stories, so I hope that my writing won't be affected too much by my personal life.

I think all art comes out of conflict. When I write I am always looking for the dramatic kernel of an event, the junctures of people's lives when they go in one direction, not another.

A typical biography relying upon individuals' notorious memories and the anecdotes they've invented contains a high degree of fiction, yet is considered 'nonfiction.'

Productivity is a relative matter. And it's really insignificant: What is ultimately important is a writer's strongest books.

When people say there is too much violence in my books, what they are saying is there is too much reality in life.

Death is just the last scene of the last act.