I decided early that I would be a writer when I grew up. That, I thought, was the profession that went with the kind of woman I wanted to become: one who is free to do whatever she chooses.

Once I started getting paid to be a writer and not having lots of other gross responsibilities, like making the puzzle or whatever, then my ambition changed, and I thought, 'Now I want to be a good writer.' And that became my ambition.

I liked the idea of being the kind of woman who'd go to the Gobi desert pregnant.

I'm a writer, not an activist. My job is to analyse things, to think them through and examine them.

There's two identity markers I'm sure of, and one is, I'm Jewish. And the other is, I'm a writer. There's just no arguing with either thing. I'm just Jewish.

The 10 or 20 minutes I was somebody's mother were black magic; there is no adventure I would have traded them for.