When I meet a woman who attracts me, I prefer women,' she said. 'And when I meet a man who attracts me, I prefer men.' 'You mean you haven't made up your mind yet.' 'I mean exactly what I said. I told you you wouldn't like it. Most people who ask want me definitely on one side or the other.

Well, writing was what I wanted to do, it was always what I wanted to do. I had novels to write so I wrote them.

...I realized that I knew less about loneliness than I had thought - and much less than I would know when he went away.

No... a novel is a long business. I'm a slow writer, even when I'm doing very well I write slowly.

Most of us don't have to worry about being shot of we poke our noses outside. So we are comfortable, but the people I'm writing about are definitely not comfortable, and being shot while they're still inside is a good possibility.

Science fiction let me do both. It let me look into science and stick my nose in everywhere.

I wanted to write a novel that would make others feel the history: the pain and fear that black people have had to live through in order to endure.