I'm really interested in the United States, what it means to be American - maybe because my father's an immigrant and my grandparents were immigrants, and also because I grew up so isolated from mainstream life, and it was such a total shock to leave the commune and, in a way, enter America for the first time when I was eleven - so I've always felt a little like an anthropologist - like, what is this strange place I find myself in, what are the rules here?

It is radical for a woman to choose to survive and to choose to eat anything.

I've heard a lot of editors and agents say, "If the book is good, it will get published." I totally disagree with that.

There are so many people who write really interesting work and try super hard and still don't get published.

You can hurt people's feelings if you laugh.

I've always been a teaser, even as a kid.

I laugh when I'm writing. I feel like all my work is funny to me.