Every artist creates with open eyes what she sees in her dream.

Troubles cured you salty as a country ham, smoky to the taste, thick-skinned and tender inside.

My grandmother was very important to me. She gave me my religious education. She gave me a sense of the female side of Judaism, of the rich store of stories and legends of the women of the schtetl.

The sense of being Jewish never left me, but when my grandmother died, I rebelled against Judaism as I knew it then, which was Orthodox. I saw the rituals, a lot of them, as very male, for a long time.

Suspense is one of the ways you persuade a reader to become engaged and stay engaged with your work.

Too much self-regard has never struck me as dignified: trying to twist over my shoulder to view my own behind.

Long hair is considered bohemian, which may be why I grew it, but I keep it long because I love the way it feels, part cloak, part fan, part mane, part security blanket.