Why don't you like the foods I like?" he asks sometimes. "Why don't you like the foods I make?" I answer.

I don't feel I have to struggle against allegory. I let the readers do the interpreting.

My stories are sometimes closer to poems or meditations, but often there is at least a little narrative in them.

Why don't you like the foods I like?" he asks sometimes. "Why don't you like the foods I make?" I answer.

I am basically the sort of person who has stage-fright teaching. I kind of creep into a classroom. I'm not an anecdote-teller, either, although I often wish I were.

I think the close work I do as a translator pays off in my writing - I'm always searching for multiple ways to say things.

No one is calling me. I can’t check the answering machine because I have been here all this time. If I go out, someone may call while I’m out. Then I can check the answering machine when I come back in.