You know, we should have cards like the deaf have. "Can't talk, I'm writing today."

I don't think I'll write a large novel again because it was like being in jail for me. Even though that's the funniest book I've ever written, it was the saddest period of my life.

I think there's some great stuff coming. I do feel that. I think we have reached our Harlem Renaissance.

We need to write because so many of our stories are not being heard. Where could they be heard in this era of fear and media monopolies? Writing allows us to transform what has happened to us and to fight back against what's hurting us. While not everyone is an author, everyone is a writer and I think that the process of writing is deeply spiritual and liberatory.

The experience taught me to be present in the real Buddhist sense of paying attention to the moment.

Mexico is only a memory of childhood safety.

I tell people to write the stories that you're afraid to talk about, the stories you wish you'd forget, because those have the most power. Those are the ones that have the most strength when you give them as a testimony.