I began writing The Cold Song in the months following my fathers death, when I felt this sense of loss, disappearance, of being right in the middle of life and wondering: What now? How to proceed?

Fairy tales and folk tales have always played a role in my writing in one way or another.

When you're not writing, you're not doing anything else either because everything you do goes into the writing.

She was home, the passage walls, memorabilia of Ben's life, past and present, welcomed her like a doting grandmother.

One of the things you could do with your time is to convert it into a treasure and that treasure is called solitude.

Be careful not to laugh at the Phoenix when she goes up in flames, or you'll be left in the dust when she grows her new wings and flies swiftly away.

I have the same birthday as George Washington. No I don't. I don't even know who George Washington is.

In the prayer time, the battle of the spiritual life is lost or won.

In the end, peace can be achieved only by hegemony or by balance of power.

For the innocent, the past may hold a reward. But for the treacherous, it's only a matter of time before the past delivers what they truly deserve.

When I receive a new role, I completely become my character.

Why work? The gods are there to lavish upon the faithful the good gifts of nature.

I've really learned to compartmentalize the different parts of my life. I work really hard.