The elegance and the quality - the talent is always in the literature. I start with the word and I base everything on that. It doesn't make any difference to me.

Over the course of my career, which is about 40 years, I've visited plenty of prisons and I know what they're like.

I am often fond of saying the Trekkers are passionate about a hobby, their hobby is 'Star Trek.' They are by and large very imaginative, very intelligent people, and they certainly have been more than generous to me.

I was caught in a private cycle of sadness and the only conceivable relief I could find was in the telling.

An Edward Povey hangs in my living room and every day I am reminded of his originality, his beauty, and the eternal promise of his craft.

Life's so brief,” she goes on. “We're, at every juncture, staring mortality in the face. It's the very least we can do if we think it will be of any interest or value, to share the past. And although mine's been crooked, it's also been splendid. It's taught me to be vulnerable and humble, to write this book.

Abortion does not compute with my philosophy.