Tea Obreht

I grew up in Cyprus and Egypt, these fantastic places I remember fondly.

In the mess of moving from place to place, I skipped two grades in the space of one year.

When I hit a block, regardless of what I am writing, what the subject matter is, or what's going on in the plot, I go back and I read Pablo Neruda's poetry. I don't actually speak Spanish, so I read it translation. But I always go back to Neruda. I don't know why, but it calms me, calms my brain.

When you're in a place, the details you focus on are different than details you focus on when you're writing about it.

At the end of the day, it's about the reader's attachment to and belief in the magical elements that make or break magical realism.

You never know what's going to happen in your life, and you never know what's going to happen in someone else's life either.

I am very interested in place, and the influences of place on characters.

In terms of people that I know, my grandmother and my mother are huge influences on my writing life because they are both massively supportive and always have been of my career.

A lot of writers that I know have told me that the first book you write, you write about your childhood, whether you want to or not. It calls you back.

My family lived in Egypt from 1993 to 1996.

A family has its own rituals and its own superstitions.

The best fiction stays with you and changes you.