In the mess of moving from place to place, I skipped two grades in the space of one year.

In my earliest memory, my grandfather is bald as a stone and he takes me to see the tigers.

At the end of the day, despite all the other great things that literature does in society and in a person's life, I think that we read to escape. And I think that place, more than anything, provides that escape quickly, if an author is engaged with the place.

I grew up in Cyprus and Egypt, these fantastic places I remember fondly.

At the end of the day, it's about the reader's attachment to and belief in the magical elements that make or break magical realism.

I've always written about animals. I'm still trying to process why that is.

My family lived in Egypt from 1993 to 1996.