I went to college at the University of Kansas, where I got a degree in political science.

I wish I could remember where I put things. I spend half my life looking for my keys. With the other half I look for my glasses.

I realised I'd never climb Everest but thought I could still write a book

These events are swirling around them. In the white community, people felt like they had no control over their neighborhoods, their destiny. In the black community, centuries of government and economic forces were pushing on them. I went in with a kind of arrogance, maybe, that came from living in a very intellectual family, and I left knowing that there was a lot about the way people lived that I didn't know about.

I love to sing. I'm a soprano.

I think Peter Dickinson is hands down the best stylist as a writer and the most interesting storyteller in my genre.

It took me nine months to write 60 pages. It was very frustrating