You ask a politician a question, like, why they ran in an election, and you’ll hear, I assume, something about wanting to contribute to the community or bring about social justice. I had no such high goals. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
A character takes shape in the act of writing. You start with something, and you add or subtract. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
With non-fiction, there is the struggle to be accurate. With fiction, it is a bit different: the desire to let imagination take you to new places. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
Hemingway’s short story ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ is a classic of its kind. It illustrates Hemingway’s ‘iceberg theory,’ which requires that a story find its effectiveness by hiding more than it reveals. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
Bad writing as a conscious goal is liberating for students: They are freed to be creative in a new and different way. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
I’m generalizing wildly, but academic books find safety in explanations that reduce the chaos of social life. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
I like listening to Garrison Keillor’s ‘The Writer’s Almanac’ with my daughter. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
