Jim Harrison

Michigan is two radically different places - the North and the South which makes for good drama and contrast.

So when I made some money, I didn't have any idea how one handled such a situation because no one in our family ever had any money.

Success and money can really be quite blinding.

Writing as a woman presents enormous problems but I have attempted it several times and haven't had many complaints.

You can't be unhappy in the middle of a big, beautiful river.

My favorite thing is just walking in the woods. I can do it for days on end without tiring of it.

What moves me most is style: the quality of the writing rather than the story being told.

Unlike a lot of writers, I don't have any craving to be understood.

Writers can write outside their ethnicity or sex depending how open and vulnerable they wish to be.

I'm not rational enough to be a good journalist.

I think the trouble with artists or chefs who whine about criticism is that if you love the good reviews, you have to at least read the bad ones.

I like grit. I like love and death. I'm tired of irony.