Novel writing is solitary work.

When people talk about the death of the novel, they are speaking of the need for the birth of something different.

Religion is not something I like to talk about publicly. One reason is the politics, but also I think spirituality is deeply personal.

My aunt used to say, "It's between me and my god; it's got nothing to do with you." It was a good enough answer for me as a snot-nosed college kid angling for a religious debate, and I still think it's a good way of putting it.

When people, particularly young people and especially young men, can't imagine themselves as heroes in narratives that they construct for themselves, they look to be heroes in some other way. So young men in America of, let's say, Muslim background, only a tiny, tiny minority - so small as to be almost zero - are likely to ever commit terrorist acts.

The world seems concerned with Pakistan primarily as an actor in global attempts to combat terrorism.

Islam is not a race, yet Islamophobia partakes of racist characteristics.