Avi

Writing is my profession. Photography is my hobby. ”

Writers don't write writing, they write reading. When I was a kid, I read four or five books a week. And that is how I became a writer. ”

I don't like the idea of a book being a test or being used for a test. The way - in my opinion - to make good readers is to let kids choose their own books and not test them. ”

I was born in New York City, along with a twin sister. I am five minutes older than Emily. It was Emily, for reasons no one knows - she certainly doesn't - who called me Avi. It stuck. It's the only name I use now. ”

I definitely have an affection for detective fiction, and when I first read Dashiell Hammett's 'The Maltese Falcon,' that book and its author made an enormous impression on me as a reader and a writer, and led me to other hard-boiled American writers like Raymond Chandler and Ross McDonald, among many. ”

For some 25 years, I worked as a librarian, first at the New York Public Library, then at Trenton State College in New Jersey. My life has always been with, around, and for books. ”

In elementary school, I did well in science, but I was a poor writer. When I got to high school, I failed all my courses. ”

I think you become a writer when you stop writing for yourself or your teachers and start thinking about readers. ”

Writing takes a lot of patience. It usually takes me a year to write a book. One time, it took me 14 years to write a book, not that I worked on it every day. ”

A lot of people think inspiration means magic. But really, inspiration means to put life into something. ”