I’m definitely a chipper. I like the idea that the most perfect form of the story already exists inside a writer, and it’s her daily work to crack it open, shard by shard.

I’d like to spend a few hours in a Gogol story—but also have a way to get out when I need to—like when the giant Nose is approaching.

I was a bartender for the last five years. People tend to think that’s pretty interesting, but after a while it just gets depressing.

Sameer Pandya’s story “M-O-T-H-E-R” follows an Indian-American family in California whose mother, Uma, has high ambitions for her teenage sons in their spelling bee competitions.

“The Insurrection Act of 1807 was enacted in silence. It has no legislative history.”

"I don't write for critics and reviewers, nor do I cater to a wider audience (by which one usually means a white audience). My work is always addressed to a very small audience: Sri Lankan readers reading in English."