I do think that part of literature's job is to comment on and participate in the social issues of the time.

My first publication was a haiku in a children's magazine when I was 9 years old. I received one dollar for it! I gave the check to my dad for Christmas, and he framed it and hung it over his desk.

Reading for writers is like training for athletes.

Why was it that pride and foolishness were so often close companions?

I can give advice to anyone interested in writing in one word: Read! I think it's much more important to be a reader than to be a writer!

In my family and among Korean-Americans, there just is no occasion that people would get together without bibimbap. It's something that people eat when they're wanting to celebrate or have a good time with friends.

If a man is keeping an idea to himself, and that idea is taken by stealth or trickery-I say it is stealing. But once a man has revealed his idea to others, it is no longer his alone. It belongs to the world.