Douglas Kennedy

I want to be a popular novelist who's also serious, or a serious novelist who's also very accessible. ”

Tragedy is one of the larger prices we pay for being alive. No one ever sidesteps tragedy. It is always there, shadowing us. ”

We don't like admitting this, but it is a key component of human existence: the fact that life has the potential for things both wondrous and horrific. ”

If there is an abiding theme in 'The Pursuit of Happiness,' it is the idea that you come into the world already shaped by other people's past histories. ”

With a novel, no matter where I am in it, I'm fretting about it. Every time I write a book, it starts with great forward momentum. Then there seems to be a period where it slows down a bit, and other things intervene. Then I gain momentum. ”

The decision to write full time was made when I was twenty-eight years old and had just had two small plays accepted for BBC Radio. ”

I've been known to write on the Underground in London and on the subway in New York. I have two or three cafes in Paris that I go into. I find a corner with a little shade, and I can work. ”