I began teaching in New York because I needed to stay in the United States and didn't have my immigration papers in order, so working for a university was a way of resolving the issue.

Teaching is a good distraction, and I am in contact with young people, which is very gratifying.

Whenever I write, I'm always thinking of the reader.

Writers are not meant for action.

One performs a very different act when reading a movie and when reading a novel. Your attention behaves differently.

I only understand realism.

Ironically, Latin American countries, in their instability, give writers and intellectuals the hope that they are needed.