I've always prided myself on my discipline as a writer. I do it like a job. I get up in the morning and go to my desk.

Vulnerability of artists is definitely what makes organizations like PEN necessary because, as I tried to argue, the actual work that writers and artists do has an ornery way of surviving. Particularly in this age of the internet, it is very easy for forbidden work to be found online somewhere if you know where to look. Artists themselves, however, are in increasing danger, and not just artists. The great concern is that year after year, rising numbers of journalists are being killed in pursuit of their work.

Religion is responsible for a lot of the problems in the history of the world and it's not something that I practice or recommend, but to each his own.

We crave permission openly to become our secret selves.

In Iran, fundamentalism was fuelled to an extent by the regime of the Shah being supported by the West.

Everybody loves 'The Wire,' and I think it's okay, but in the end it's just a police series.

To see things plainly, you have to cross a frontier.