Rick Bass

When you sign on to be an activist in northwest Montana, people in the grocery store will avoid eye contact, particularly if they're hanging out with outspoken opponents to your views.

A novel that features real people is complicated, but in the end, that extra challenge is all for the good.

I think a novelist must be more tender with living or 'real' people. The moral imperative of having been entrusted with their story looms before you every day, in every sentence.

She divorced me August 10 of 2000, but she never was able to completely get rid of me. Don't ask me why.

I had this wild imagination. I was never me. All my childhood photos, I'm in fancy dress, playing a Russian refuge or Marvelous Mad Madam Mim.

I'd date someone younger or older; age doesn't matter to me. Or looks, really - it's all about maturity.