I don’t want long hair, I don’t want short hair, I don’t want hair at all, and I don’t want to be a girl or a boy. I want to be a yellow and orange leaf some little kid picks up and pastes in his scrapbook.

My career means, if you're a non-Indian writing about Indians, at least there's one Indian in your rearview mirror.

Sometimes it's called passing out and sometimes it's just pretending to be asleep

I thought I’d been condescended to as an Indian - that was nothing compared to the condescension for writing Y.A.

I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers. I don't write to protect them. It's far too late for that. I write to give them weapons-in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.

The world is divided by two different tribes. The people who are assholes and the people who are not.

Everybody likes to have a place to think, to meditate, to eat a burrito.