Nothing much interested me other than playing with language and telling stories and doing something with the wonders of the world around me.

Each language has its own take on the world. That's why a translation can never be absolutely exact, and therefore, when you enter another language and speak with its speakers, you become a slightly different person; you learn a different sort of world.

One of the things I love about writing is the way you can use what you know and what you've experienced, without actually writing about yourself. I've given many of my experiences and perceptions to many of the characters in the book, but none of them is me.

I love to write a book out of questions; in fact, I think it's the only way my writing can operate, if there's something I don't understand.