For me it was a lot harder to come to terms with the death of my grandfather than it was to come to terms with what's happened to the former Yugoslavia.

I grew up in Cyprus and Egypt, these fantastic places I remember fondly.

I do no writing while I'm in Belgrade visiting my grandma.

The best fiction stays with you and changes you.

My grandfather and I were very close.

A family has its own rituals and its own superstitions.

Come on, is your heart a sponge or a fist?

We're all entitled to our superstitions.

My mother always says that fear and pain are immediate, and that, when they're gone we're left with the concept, but not the true memory.

I've always written about animals. I'm still trying to process why that is.

I think the mythology of death really ran away with me when I was very young.

If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead.

Defeat is a thing of weariness of incoherence of boredom.

Art, like Nature, has her monsters

If you are writing children's books, you need to be a ruthless killer.

As though all the world were a bad joke and she was the only one around who knew the punchline.

All I want to do is make serious movies that explore social issues and turn a profit, and slip the schnitzel to Jane DePugh.

Usually you regret the things you say no to.

When a copier sales person cold calls a purchasing manager whom he has never met is it any surprise that the purchasing manager will most likely never return that call?

Life is a question in the form of an answer

I ain't ever had a job, I just always played baseball.