I don't want a tombstone. You could carve on it 'She never actually wanted a tombstone.' Ali Smith carvetombstonewant Change image and share on social
We'd never expect to understand a piece of music on one listen, but we tend to believe we've read a book after reading it just once. Ali Smith bookexpecthave Change image and share on social
As for Aliki - if you were to stand in the middle of Rome and say the name Sophia Loren, or Paris and say the name Catherine Deneuve or Brigitte Bardot, or L.A. and the name Marilyn Monroe, it's like standing in Athens, or anywhere in wide-flung Greece, and saying Aliki Vougiouklaki. A huge star - and so little known elsewhere in the world. Ali Smith alikiathensbardot share on social
I went to the top of Vesuvius and looked in. Ali Smith looktopvesuvius Change image and share on social
It's the word 'artful'; it's such a great word, with its dark and its light side, its art and its cunning, the craft and the crafty of it - I've been preoccupied with the word 'artful' and the twin notions of 'cornucopia' and 'pickpocket' it suggests for quite some time. Ali Smith artartfulcornucopia share on social
Even things which seem separate and finished are infinitely connected and will infinitely connect. This connection happens as soon as you let it, as soon as you engage - as soon as you even attempt to engage. Ali Smith attemptconnectconnection share on social
Short stories consume you faster. They're connected to brevity. With the short story, you are up against mortality. I know how tough they are as a form, but they're also a total joy. Ali Smith brevityconnectconsume Change image and share on social
Fashion is fickle, and I was published because I was fashionable. Because I was gay. Ali Smith fashionfashionablefickle Change image and share on social
We're well past the end of the century when time, for the first time, curved, bent, slipped, flash forwarded, and flashed back yet still kept rolling along. We know it all now, with our thoughts traveling at the speed of a tweet, our 140 characters in search of a paragraph. We're post-history. We're post-mystery. Ali Smith backbendcentury share on social
Nothing is harmful to literature except censorship, and that almost never stops literature going where it wants to go either, because literature has a way of surpassing everything that blocks it and growing stronger for the exercise. Ali Smith blockcensorshipexercise share on social