For me the path to the literary goes through the non - literary. For this reason it surprises me that I am a writer, or that people speak of me as a …

- Gustavo Perez Firmat

I say that being a smart writer doesn't make you a good writer. There's obviously a difference between talent and intelligence. And it may be that at…

- Gustavo Perez Firmat

Teaching is my most reliable form of human contact. I love the opportunity to speak Spanish (which I don't do at home), the give-and-take with studen…

- Gustavo Perez Firmat

I was born in Cuba but was made in the USA.

- Gustavo Perez Firmat

When I was younger, I dreaded having to write. I would find every possible excuse not to sit down at the typewriter (this was a long time ago). As I'…

- Gustavo Perez Firmat

My writing, such as it is, grows out of my sense of discolation, I mean, dislocation. Having lost my place, I write to find my place, or to find once…

- Gustavo Perez Firmat

I read fiction all the time. It's true that I don't like fantasy or science fiction. I like "realistic" novels, particularly those in which nothing m…

- Gustavo Perez Firmat

Literature is breathing. I teach literature the way someone else might teach First Aid.

- Gustavo Perez Firmat

The fact that I am writing to you in English already falsifies what I wanted to tell you. My subject: how to explain to you that I don't belong to En…

- Gustavo Perez Firmat