I would teach from nine to four, sleep an hour, and write from six until midnight, night after night.

A good writer cannot avoid having social consciousness. I don't mean this about small pieces of writing, but about a big book. If it's a big book, there has to be more than one undertow.

The first money I ever had was when I received an award from the American Association of University Women.

I don't believe there can be a poetic novel without political consciousness. I have a strong political conscience.

If you don't have obsessions, don't write. my characters are obsessed.

All the books I have written have been one book, from the beginning.

If you know anything about James Whitcomb Riley, you know that Little Orphan Annie is one of the most fantastic characters who ever lived in America before Charlie Chaplin.