Michael Ondaatje

The past is still, for us, a place that is not safely settled.

That's Anil's path. She grows up in Sri Lanka, goes and gets educated abroad, and through fate or chance gets brought back by the Human Rights Commission to investigate war crimes.

It's a discovery of a story when I write a book, a case of inching ahead on each page and discovering what's beyond in the darkness, beyond where you're writing.

Right now, I have no idea what I will write or if I will write again.

The last three books are much more a case of a moment of history, what happened almost by accident or coincidence, like being in the same elevator or lifeboat.

As a writer, one is busy with archaeology.

A writer uses a pen instead of a scalpel or blow torch.

I'm a Canadian citizen. But I always want to feel at home in Sri Lanka. I'm a member of both countries.

In the book the relationship with Katharine and Almasy is sort of only in the patient's mind.

You want to suggest something new, but at the same time, resolve the drama of the action in the novel.

The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human. Meander if you want to get to town.

Truth, at the wrong time, can be dangerous.