Writing A Story Is Kind Of Like

I Write What Needs To Be Written The Way That Seems Genuinely Right. If What Comes Out Of It Are Stories, Then It Is My Vocation To Believe In Them And In The Fact That They'll Interest People And Maybe Affect Their Lives.

As A Child, I Never Wanted My Parents To Be Unhappy, Which Meant That I Would Always Contemplate What Would Make Them Happy.

Even As A Very Young Man, I Knew That My Family Is Like A Plant. Uproot It, And It Will Wilt. Pluck Away At It, And It Will Die. But Leave It To Thrive In The Soil, Untouched, And It Will Weather Both Gods And Winds. It Is Born With The Soil, And It Will Live So Long As The Soil Shall Live.

Most Of The Jewish Writer Friends I Have Are American, And I Feel Closer To Them Because They're Always Obsessed With One Issue - Identity: What Does It Mean To Be An American Jew?

For My Mother, Having A Family Was The Most Important Thing In Her Life. In The Second World War, It Was A Challenge - Surviving Physically And Mentally And Finding Somebody Who You Loved And Who Was Willing To Be With You.