It is comparatively easy to become a writer; staying a writer, resisting formulaic work, generating one's own creativity - that's a much tougher matter.

I am a writer and always was; being a writer is an integral part of my identity. Being published, being well regarded, is a component of that identity.

That's the artist's role - to strike out always for something new, to break away, to defy, to... grapple with the unfamiliar.

Feedback is a pleasant thing. I get a lot of letters from unexpected people in unexpected places.

When I start writing a poem, I don't think about models or about what anybody else in the world has done.

Ainsi presque tout est imitation. L'idee des Lettres persanes est prise de celle de l'Espion turc. Le Boiardo a imite le Pulci, l'Arioste a imite le Boiardo. L…

Writing is not 'the establishment of a professional reputation' as if one were a doctor or lawyer; it is not properly in the sentence with creation of a family…