I write essays to clear my mind. I write fiction to open my heart.

I was four when I announced my ambition to write, eight when I began publishing such claims.

The writer presents himself to the blank page not with an open passport but an open heart.

I've written fiction for as long as I can remember; it's always been my preferred form of play.

I wrote fiction during my entire childhood, from age 4 to 18, and started writing plays when I went to Yale and Oxford.

I write many essays on whales. I love whales, especially orcas. And dolphins.