When you're in a place, the details you focus on are different than details you focus on when you're writing about it.

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

I do no writing while I'm in Belgrade visiting my grandma.

For me it was a lot harder to come to terms with the death of my grandfather than it was to come to terms with what's happened to the former Yugoslavia.

The best fiction stays with you and changes you.

My grandfather and I were very close.

A family has its own rituals and its own superstitions.

Come on, is your heart a sponge or a fist?

We're all entitled to our superstitions.

My mother always says that fear and pain are immediate, and that, when they're gone we're left with the concept, but not the true memory.

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

Anybody from the public can come in and observe ballots being processed and those votes being counted in elections officials' offices in any county in any state in the nation.

My wit is sharper then the finest mustache, and when I walk among men I make truths ring like spurs.

Dreaming by the river, I dedicated my imagination to water, to clear, green water, the water that makes the meadows green.

My father says that fear is good; it's the body's alarm system, it warns us of danger. But sometimes danger can't be avoided, and then you have to forget about being afraid.

I wanted to be a meteorologist. I wanted to be a marine biologist

I like helping people achieve their dreams just like people helped me.

I used to want to change the world. Now I'm open to letting it change me.

It's actually very beautiful when you can't conceive on your own, you can actually go to the doctors and with science you can create a child.

When we have a majority we will do it. I think the days of the Lords are quite genuinely numbered.