Primarily, 'Black Girl/White Girl' is the story of two very different, yet somehow 'fated' girls; for Genna, her 'friendship' with Minette is the most haunting of her life, though it is one-sided and ends in tragedy.

Every scar in my face is worth it.

Homo sapiens is the species that invents symbols in which to invest passion and authority, then forgets that symbols are inventions.

Writing is a consequence of having been 'haunted' by material. Why this is, no one knows.

I can't say I was a very successful sorority girl.

A mouth of no distinction but well practiced, before I entered my teens, in irony. For what is irony but the repository of hurt? And what is hurt but the repository of hope?

Writers and artists never pay attention to advice given by their elders, quite rightly. The only worthwhile advice is the most general: Keep trying, don't give up, don't be discouraged, don't pay attention to detractors. Everyone knows this.