Stephen McCauley

I write in public libraries and sometimes coffee shops. I can't write at home and gave up trying long ago. I need activity around me that I'm forced to block out. It helps me focus.

It's really fun to write something for kids. You can make it a little bit more extreme and crazy than you would for adults.

If you aren't a reader and you have a kid with his face buried in books, it can be a bit threatening. My parents viewed my reading as somewhat effeminate, but also subversive on some level.

Early on, I got some criticism from other gay writers and queer theorists for being too 'assimilationist,' probably because my characters are outsiders, even in the gay world.

It's hard to imagine anyone accusing Lionel Shriver of being a timid writer.

Jill Eisenstadt is a writer of many admirable gifts. Foremost among them are a sharp eye for people, a playful love of language, and, it's probably safe to assume, nearly boundless energy.

The experience of writing under a pseudonym was tremendously liberating; I could write what I wanted.

Ultimately, Cole Porter's music might say more about his life than any biography could. His songs, with their witty lyrics and debonair style, are an advertisement for his personality and his public persona.

I have always had someone in my life that I consider my reading mentor because I come from a family where reading was not emphasized or even approved of.

I think libraries give the feeling that people are there to work. It's a little bit like an artist's colony in the sense that there's some sort of shared experience. There's respect for quiet, more or less, but otherwise, there's activity.

I guess I have an aversion to writing about big events and heroic actions. The everyday has always seemed most important to me in writing, probably because I believe people reveal themselves in how they deal with small details.

One of my pleasures is observing people's behavior and pointing out the inconsistencies that we all sort of have at the center of our lives.