I come out of a strong oral tradition in the South..

Writing is the thing that props me up..

I’ve known people that the world has thrown everything at to discourage them...to break their spirit. And yet something about them retains a dignity.….

You have to watch out with my plays. They're like yeast. You think they're one thing, then all of a sudden subtext gets to working..

When you're a writer, you have to write these stories, even if you don't get paid.

I'm a social writer in the sense that I want to record, but not in the sense of trying to change people's minds..

But I don't really write to honor the past. I write to investigate, to try to figure out what happened and why it happened, knowing I'll never really….

If I ever teach writing again, I’d say the first lesson is to listen..