“Keep your hands moving. Writing is rewriting.” — August Wilson Quote

Keep your hands moving. Writing is rewriting.

Like most people, I have this sort of love-hate relationship with Pittsburgh. This is my home, and at times I miss it and find it tremendously exciting, and other times I want to catch the first thing out that has wheels.

Part of what our problem as blacks in America is that we don't claim that. Partly, you see, because of the linguistic environment in which we live.

If you want to participate in life, you have to deny your identity.

It was early on in 1965 when I wrote some of my first poems. I sent a poem to 'Harper's' magazine because they paid a dollar a line. I had an eighteen-line poem, and just as I was putting it into the envelope, I stopped and decided to make it a thirty-six-line poem. It seemed like the poem came back the next day: no letter, nothing.

In our hands, even the straightest lyric sounded shady.

When you talk to a Latin American president, they make you feel so tiny right from the beginning, right from the moment when they shake your hands.

The pure work implies the disappearance of the poet as speaker, who hands over to the words.

No matter what government does or does not do, people need to remember the power is in their hands to make their small part of the world better. Set a tone of kindness.

I don't think an NC-17 rating is the kiss of death. Nor do I think that, in the hands of the right filmmakers, studios have a preconceived notion to pass on NC-17 material.