When I do it [writing] by myself, there's a lot more terror and uncertainty..

I've been recognized in airports lots of places, but mostly getting recognized is at home..

It is our duty and our joy to communicate our hearts to each other. Words assist us in this task..

It is a bad thing to have love and nowhere to put it..

There's a Buddhist precept that the only thing you deserve is the chance to do the work, and I've been given the chance to do the work..

That is surely the truth, at least for now. But perhaps you have not noticed: the truth is forever changing..

Everything I write comes from my childhood in one way or another. I am forever drawing on the sense of mystery and wonder and possibility that pervad….

There's nothing more fabulous than an adult saying to you, "I think that you might like this one [book]." So I'm grateful every time that happens. It….

As a kid books changed how I looked at the world and helped me understand things. Books still deepen me and open my heart..

There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way, a….

Edward knew what it was like to say over and over again the names of those you had left behind. He knew what it was like to miss someone. And so he l….

The way we started was, Alison [McGhee] said, 'Tall girl, short girl.' We had no plans beyond that..

Her sister, Holly McGhee, is an agent, and she's my agent in New York. She's Alison's agent too. Even though Alison lives here in Minneapolis, I met ….

Minnesota has been so good to me and so pleased that I love Minnesota..

No matter how hard you try to be present at home, you're always doing the things that you have to do..

At the thought of being eaten by rats, Despereaux forgot about being brave. He forgot about not being a disappointment. He felt himself heading into ….

There are hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way, as if s….

We all live in fear of getting blocked no matter what kind of art we're trying to do. It happens all the time, but I prefer to think of it as a bad d….

If I am just home and writing, I become very strange..

Perhaps," said the man, "you would like to be lost with us. I have found it much more agreeable to be lost in the company of others..

This is the danger of loving: No matter how powerful you are, no matter how many kingdoms you rule, you cannot stop those you love from dying..