Of course I’m a black writer. . . . I’m not just a black writer, but categories like black writer, woman writer and Latin American writer aren’t marginal anymore. We have to acknowledge that the thing we call “literature” is more pluralistic now, just as society ought to be. The melting pot never worked. We ought to be able to accept on equal terms everybody from the Hasidim to Walter Lippmann, from the Rastafarians to Ralph Bunche. –Toni Morrison
The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings.
–Kate Chopin
When I teach writing, I tell the story of the moment of discovering and naming my otherness. It is not enough simply to sense it; it has to be named, and then written about from there. Once I could name it, I ceased being ashamed and silent. I could speak up and celebrate my otherness… –Sandra Cisneros
Understand me. What I am here for is to tell you stories you may not want to hear. What I am here for is
to rescue my dead. And to scare hell out of you now and then. I was raised Baptist, I know how to do that.–Dorothy Allison
Some people see scars, and it is wounding they remember. To me they are proof of the fact that there is healing. –Linda Hogan
Everyone must dream. We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming – well, that’s like saying
you can never change your fate. –Amy Tan
