1. “A book does not discriminate against any reader. All are welcome at the table of literature.”
2. “Every writer can tell you that a book is only truly alive when it finds passionate readers who bring it alive in their imaginations.”
3. “There is no end to what can be said about the world.”
4. “Each of us will have to make the choices that allow us to be the larger versions of ourselves.”
5. “A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart.”
6. “The point is not to pay back kindness but to pass it on.”
7. “Everyone needs a strong sense of self. It is our base of operations for everything that we do in life.”
8. “The elasticity of imagination and compassion is what writing and reading promote.”
9. “Don’t plan it all. Let life surprise you a little.”
10. “Schools provide safe spaces to talk about controversial issues and literature presents characters portraying human experience in all its richness and contradictoriness.”
11. “Literature is about being a complex, contradictory human being.”
12. “I think it is important to know how to teach new material to help young people grow and learn.”
13. “Depression is always in the details.”
14. “How we lie to ourselves when we’ve fallen in love with the wrong man.”
15. “Independence didn’t have to be exile.”
