Only in novels can we take another human being into our head and create something jointly.

I think that people are going to move. They always have and that's going to continue. The question is, how are we going to deal with it?

I think writing is a very political act. I think that any writer who says it's not, is simply a writer who is disavowing the political connotations of what they write.

I am a strong believer in the intertwined nature of the personal and the political; I think they move together.

I don't think the function of writing, at least for me as a fiction writer, is to say to people, "Here's the answer." It's not an op-ed.

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

In America there are people advocating for trans rights and people like Vice President Pence, who is vehemently opposed. In Pakistan, too, you have all kinds of folks - from flamboyant gay fashion designers and female Air Force pilots to the Taliban. A cross-dressed man used to be the top TV talk show host. It was actually quite radical. So the diversity of these societies is often lost on people.