What I've always seen in writers and artists is the courage it takes to make an original work of art. I think the real risks in literature are linguistic and intellectual, and I hope we can highlight those, as well as political courage.

When I am writing novels I don't read a lot of novels so I try to catch up in-between.

If you have children you worry about the world you're leaving them.

It just requires so much of you, and most of the time you feel dumb.

I used to write a monthly column for the 'New York Times' syndicate. But I stopped because I found it really hard to have one extreme opinion a month. I don't know how these columnists have two or three ideas a week; I was having difficulty having 12 things to say a year.

Language upon a silvered tongue affords enchantment enough.

A photograph is a moral decision taken in one eighth of a second.