When it comes to memoir, we want to catch the author in a lie. When we read fiction, we want to catch the author telling the truth.

If there was ever a time to boil up some grits it is now.

I take mentoring very seriously and I am on the board of an organization called Girls Write Now, where we match teen girls and writing mentors because it changes their lives.

Remember that the writing itself is good for you. If your story is so close to home that you are afraid to write it, it probably means you need to write it.

When you write a novel, you make other people see your imaginary friends.

I take mentoring very seriously and as a result I hardly get any work done during the school year.

This is what I have come to know: Our past is never passed and there is no such thing as moving on. But there is this telling and there is such a thing as passing through.

Abandonment doesn't have the sharp but dissipating sting of a slap. It's like a punch to the gut, bruising your skin and driving the precious air from your body.

My first novel, Leaving Atlanta, took at look at my hometown in the late 1970s, when the city was terrorized by a serial murderer that left at least 29 African-American children dead.

It's funny how three or four notes of anger can be struck at once, creating the perfect chord of fury.

When I am writing a story it feels as real as the life I am experiencing off the page. It's an emotional illusion, I guess.

You couldn't relive your life, skipping the awful parts, without losing what made it worthwhile. You had to accept it as a whole--like the world, or the person you loved.

The world of book is the stream of souls.

Are people drawn to each other because of the stories they carry inside?

I don't want to appear to be placing blame, but as far my life is concerned, everything is pretty much my dad's ball's fault.

I have found success is ultimately realized by people who make more right choices . . . and recover quickly from their bad choices.

Upon the creatures we have made, we are, ourselves, at last, dependent.

When you think about it, what other playwrights are there besides O'Neill, Tennessee and me?

Everyone is right up there at the very brink of their pain limit.

Sedentary people are apt to have sluggish minds. A sluggish mind is apt to be reflected in flabbiness of body and in a dullness of expression that invites no interest and gets none.

Pride thyself on what virtue thou hast, and not on thy parentage.