I've always thought of writing as sort of active communication.

Anthropological fieldwork is so much like writing a novel. You don't know what the hell is going on.

I have three stepfamilies as well as my family of origin. I've had to adjust to them and also go back and forth among them. I became an observer of human nature because when you are in those situations you have to be.

To go back to my childhood, I experienced lots of different family cultures, all the while feeling like none of them were mine.

I love reading fiction about people who are connecting intellectually. I find that exhilarating.

I don't like stories where I'm being given pages and pages of detail.

There are certain tribes in the middle Sepik that eat raw bat. A certain kind of raw bat is a delicacy.