I was never raised with anybody telling me that gay was bad.
I didn't want to give the white reader an opportunity to think of racism as imaginary - a sentiment that is already a central barrier in addressing the problem.
When I was writing, I wanted every word to be not only deliberate, but musical. Precious.
I always work with text orally in the writing process, saying passages aloud to measure flow.
My interest in language is steadfast, but I think each project and its accompanying intentions dictate how language must be used.
Writing about racism requires a directness that writing a love story does not.
I don't yet know what style will be required for my next novel, but my sense is that each book will involve a new relationship to language.
I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him.
In terms of the stars, the only ones I cast were Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins. I was in Los Angeles working and a lot of this took place on the telephone. I'd met Maggie [Smith] once and I'd come back-stage, which I'm usually loathe to do because as an actor you don't want people coming back because you want to get home [laughs].
I want to be different. Just like all the other different people I want to be like. I want to be just like all the different people and assert my individuality along with others who are different like me.
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?