A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart.

Everyone needs a strong sense of self. It is our base of operations for everything that we do in life.

But the sensibility of the writer, whether fiction or poetry, comes from paying attention. I tell my students that writing doesn't begin when you sit down to write. It's a way of being in the world, and the essence of it is paying attention.

Reading is a way to take in the difficult situations and understand them. The whole point of reading a book in class is to have discussion about what these situations are like.

It doesn't make any sense. If the SIM are policemen, secret or not, shouldn't we trust them instead of being afraid of them?

Don't plan it all. Let life surprise you a little.

Marjorie Agosin proves the power of the word to transport us to the center of her humane and human vision.