Amor animi arbitrio sumitu, non ponitur; we choose to love; we do not choose to cease loving.

The gender inequality in book reviewing isn't getting better. Male authors get the majority of review coverage, and male reviewers do most of the reviewing. It's kind of devastating.

It seems to me that if you were to take almost any half-century in history, you'd find a grand societal tug-of-war between the community and the individual.

Freedom or community, community or freedom. One must decide the way one wants to live. I chose community.

I'm a writer, not an actor. I want to write rather than perform. I'm looking forward to disappearing for a while.

I'm ambivalent about the Orange Prize. I was really proud to be shortlisted alongside the other writers, whom I admire. That said, I don't know if it's best way of addressing gender inequality problems.

I think that writers have natural canvases, and my canvas, even in short stories, often seems to be the scope of a life.