"My books are often shelved around those of Chinua Achebe and Margaret Atwood, or Chimamanda Adichie and Monica Ali. All of this depends, of course, on the bookstore and how conversant the shelf stocker is with the alphabet."

"My father was educated in Cork, in the University of Cork, in the '50s."

"Chinua Achebe was a well-worn name in my home. My father knew him from a brief stint working with him for the Biafran Broadcasting Service. While Achebe stayed with the BBS, my father left to head up the relief effort. Post-civil war, my father was the principal of Isienu Secondary School in Nsukka and Achebe was an occasional visitor to our house."

"If I don't get at least one e-mail every ten minutes, I feel unloved. Even junk mail makes me feel seen. Sad, I know. Sigh."

"My position is not that John Kerry is either Jesus Christ or the prophet Mohammad. My position is that John Kerry is the possibility of restarting politics."

"I really would love to do a piece like Julia Roberts or Charlize Theron in 'Erin Brockovich' or 'North Country.' They were both so amazing and so inspiring. I would love to touch someone in the way their performances touched me."

"An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry."

"There is no morality in war. Morality is the privilege of those judging from the distance. War is only death and destruction."