The sound of the mandolin is a very curious sound because it's cheerful and melancholy at the same time, and I think it comes from that shadow string, the double strings.

If they don't read, if they don't love reading; if they don't find themselves compulsively reading, I don't think they're really a writer

We should always do something that makes us feel like a child again. Keep learning, no matter what it is.

I thought, after the Pulitzer, at least nothing will surprise me quite that much in my life. And another one happened. It was quite amazing.

What writing does is to reveal.

I change jobs like drinking water ... And as I grow accustomed to the new flavor of a drink I regard as delicious, yes, vital, something fades, life balks. So I break camp; I shed skins.

Creative writing and literacy go hand and hand.