We have all this courage as writers, but then there's this fear.

I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate

Even if we don't know if God exists, we can be certain love exists, because its power transcends death.

That's why it's important to be multilingual, because it teaches you so much about your own language.

I am not in touch with other writers. I don't have very much contact with other writers. I don't get invited to these things or I don't go to them. I hate panels. I speak to librarians and to conferences of English teachers. That's what I do: teachers and librarians. And high school kids.

I've come to some balance now and calmness. If anything happened to me and I got hit by a bus - I hope this doesn't happen, but if something happened - my body of work is something I could rest on. I don't feel, "Oh God, I have to hurry up . . ."

My book would come out in one language, then it would come out in another language, then it would come out in One City, One Read, and I was always being called away from my desk.