What I wanted to do was to get that sense of being in touch with this lost world while holding onto what draws readers and audiences there in the first place.

I have lots of things that aren't so old that I value, such as a copy of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," which he signed for me.

Writing is a performance, like singing an aria or dancing a jig

What we know is that Shakespeare wrote perhaps the most remarkable body of passionate love poetry in the English language to a young man.

What I wanted to do was to get that sense of being in touch with this lost world while holding onto what draws readers and audiences there in the first place.

No special writing rituals. And my desk is usually cluttered.

But I never listen to music while I'm writing.