I don't think American poetry has gotten any better in the past 35 years. Oddly enough, creative writing programs seem to have been good for fiction, and I would not have predicted that.

Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity.

Fiction is about intimacy with characters, events, places.

I love to create interesting textures with language. You can do it as long as it seems like a discovery.

Most people I talked to, they'd be like, your first is your worst, because you go on and everybody's probably done more than you, so you get that sense that they're on a whole different level. But they just made me feel like a piece of the family.

I was born on the west side of Chicago, and there was quite a bit of poverty. My family and I didn't have exactly the best or the most optimal financial situation in my youth, but we turned out well. My mom always made sure that we got a proper education and that we dedicated ourselves to our work.

I love my kids, they are amazing children, but they drive me bananas sometimes. And sometimes, I want to sell them on eBay... but I'm not going to.

An oligarchy of race, where the Saxon rules the African, might be endured; but this oligarchy of sex which makes father, brothers, husband, sons, the oligarchs over the mother and sisters, the wife and daughters of every household... carries discord and rebellion into every home of the nation.