Are there books about us or something?” This makes Pressia angry - the idea that this world is a subject of study, a story, instead of filled with real people, trying to survive.

Love is a luxury. It's something that people are allowed to indulge in when they're not simply trying to survive and keep other people alive.

I don't know when I'm writing dark. I don't know when I'm writing funny or even heartbreaking. I'm always just trying to write it true.

You learn to exploit genre for the more important things - to my mind - like story, character, image, language.

Genres are just bottles for the various boats. The boats matter to me.

Literature has done great work for feminism - writing and reading are a practice of empathy - and great literature will continue to do so.

Our stories are what we have,” Our Good Mother says. “Our stories preserve us. we give them to one another. Our stories have value. Do you understand?