My parents were liberal intellectuals but even they expected me to stay at home and look after my younger siblings and do the housework.

I had a fantasy as a child that I might be a writer someday. I always thought that meant you went to New York or Paris. But after that intense summer, I never thought that I wanted to live any place but Chicago. It also made me see what the stakes were in the civil rights movement. And it made me see what real hatred was like and the forms that it took. But it also made me understand how powerless ordinary people feel in their lives.

I believe that to create real-seeming characters, the writer must be willing to go on a voyage of self-exploration. It can be revealing and even painful to explore your own weakness, but it gives you genuine emotion. Characters in fiction come alive because of the believability of their emotional lives and that is what I strive to create.

When you feel lousy, puppy therapy is indicated.

I'm very honoured that there is a loyal following and I hope it continues

The rich are different than you and me: they have more money and they have more power.

No agent wants to see a book until he or she has decided whether to pursue the relationship