“We authors certainly don't know what is going to happen to our books. ...” — Justin Cartwright Quote

“We authors certainly don't know what is going to happen to our books. Are they going to disappear into the ether, following music downloads, or are ebooks going to open up a whole new world of readers? And how much are we being paid per copy? We haven't a clue.”

“Transport is not a ministry the ambitious should accept: no transport minister has gone on to be prime minister.”

“Homer Collyer's chosen form of self-expression is the piano, although late in life, when his hearing also goes, he takes to writing.”

“America is the big subject of the second half of the 20th century, tackled in one form or another by all the great American male writers. You could make a case for saying that it was the only game in town - from Bellow to Roth to Updike to Richard Ford - America was more or less explicitly the leitmotif.”

“I thought that, post-apartheid, there would be absolutely no interest in South Africa. That has been both true and untrue. The major writers like Gordimer and Coetzee have produced major books. But some of the more minor writers have drifted away.”

“European authors often write books about the rest of the world that profess a vision of shared humanity but fall far short, casting the other as exotic or dangerous.”

“In quoting of books, quote such authors as are usually read; others you may read for your own satisfaction, but not name them.”

“Books by women, people of color, LGBTQ authors, differently abled people, and non-Americans are a great way of broadening horizons and building empathy.”

“Maybe just as many women writers as male writers could be billed as the next great American writer by their publisher. Maybe book criticism sections could review an equal amount of female and male writers. Maybe Oprah could start putting some books by women authors in her book club, since most of her audience is women.”

“I've always been a geek, so I've always used the Internet, perhaps at first for autopromotion, as many authors do.”

“You can speak universally by writing your specifics. That's historically been the case with authors like Philip Roth writing about New Jersey Jews in revealing ways, then suddenly becoming a stand-in for all sorts of immigrant novels.”