I Divide My Time Between Columbia, Maryland,

I Think It's Important To Humanize History; Fiction Can Help Us Remember. A Lot Of Books I've Read In The Past Have Been So Much More Important Than Textbooks - There Is An Emotional Connection With One Particular Person. I'm Very Much Of A Research-is-important Type Of Fiction Writer, Even For Contemporary Fiction. I Wrote About Blogs In America And I've Never Blogged. But I Read Many, Many Blogs - Usually About Feminist Things, Or About Race, Or About Hair.

My Characters Are Usually Composites. I Wish I Could Pretend That I Make Up All Of These Characters, But No. I Steal From People. But People Will Say To Me, "oh, That's Me!" And I'm Thinking, No, That's Not You!

I Had Consumed A Lot Of American Culture, But I Was Not Quite Prepared For The Reality Of American Poverty.

The Best Novels Are Those That Are Important Without Being Like Medicine; They Have Something To Say, Are Expansive And Intelligent But Never Forget To Be Entertaining And To Have Character And Emotion At Their Centre.

There's Something Very Lazy About The Way You Have Loved Him Blindly For So Long Without Ever Criticizing Him. You've Never Even Accepted That The Man Is Ugly,' Kainene Said. There Was A Small Smile On Her Face And Then She Was Laughing, And Olanna Could Not Help But Laugh Too, Because It Was Not What She Had Wanted To Hear And Because Hearing It Had Made Her Feel Better.