There's a stereotype that to be a strong black woman is to be strong about being black. — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
“Hattie’s children died in the order in which they were born: first Philadelphia, then Jubilee.” — Ayana Mathis Children Copy Share Image
I think that people have some sort of vision that everybody is moving towards perfection, and that there is some sort of… — Ayana Mathis Alive Copy Share Image
I think being consistent is really important. In the arts there's a misconception that you sit around waiting for the muse to… — Ayana Mathis Art Copy Share Image
“Half of what’s wrong with people today is that they ain’t got no place to go that makes them peaceful. I don’t… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
“Six understood in that instant that he had something the ministers wanted and it had given him power among them. He had… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
“Maybe we have only a finite amount of love to give. We're born with our portion, and if we love and are… — Ayana Mathis Depleted Copy Share Image
All of us, writers and non-writers alike, have incredible well-springs of personal experience and history. And we also have imagination - which… — Ayana Mathis History Copy Share Image
“Bell lifted her hand to her chest. Her heart beat so quickly. She was floating out on a tide of agony, and… — Ayana Mathis Agony Copy Share Image
“All of them...were little lights; sparks flying upward in dark places, trying to stay alight though they were compelled toward ash. They… — Ayana Mathis Alight Copy Share Image
Certainly I had from an early age a sense of the power and beauty of religious texts - the awesome magnitude of… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
Racial terrorism affects the lives of white people and black people and everyone, everything. Racism is contaminating. It can affect the dogs… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
There is a forgotten black middle class in America - a group which is huge but underrepresented in the media and in… — Ayana Mathis Art Copy Share Image
At some point I just acknowledged, at least to myself, that I had a great deal of respect for people of faith.… — Ayana Mathis Church Copy Share Image
I started writing the book without realizing I was writing a book. That sounds stupid, but it's true. I'd been trying and… — Ayana Mathis Book Copy Share Image
“Eudine did not reply. She was indecipherable, so ageless and immaculate. Her eyes were the same caramel shade as her skin. Her… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
I think a lot about race and the burdens of representation. There's an idea that because I'm writing a book set around… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
“In one of the novel’s most dramatic and revealing chapters, Hattie leaves August with the older children and escapes with baby Ruthie… — Ayana Mathis Children Copy Share Image
“It seemed to him that every time he made one choice in his life, he said no to another. All of those… — Ayana Mathis Choice Copy Share Image
“You act like your whole life was one long January afternoon." Lawrence said. "It wouldn't do any good to go around with… — Ayana Mathis Head in the clouds Copy Share Image
“She didn’t know what to make of this sporadic urgency with him. It had confounded and humiliated her for the thirty years… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
My book has a pre - civil rights setting with a post - civil rights sensibility. I believe less and less that… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
I couldn't imagine a book with many characters in it and one of them not being gay. It would have felt like… — Ayana Mathis Being gay Copy Share Image
“Pride brought down a lot of folks. One of these days you gon' have to turn around and look at whatever it… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
One of the things that writers worry about is finding a voice. I don't think it's a thing that you find so… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
“I know all of her moods and the way they play across her features, but I am still awed at the configuration… — Ayana Mathis Lips Copy Share Image
I'm wary of being put in boxes. But at the same time, it's important that I embrace my identity as a writer… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
“At last, her mother and sisters exited the station and came to stand next to her. “Mama,” Hattie said. “I’ll never go… — Ayana Mathis Mother Copy Share Image
One thing I am learning is to slow down. Multitasking is great, but I when try to do everything at warp speed… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
I really, deeply believe in the primacy of character. I believe that my job as a writer is to put a believable… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
Voice isn't fixed or unmalleable, it adapts to the characters you are creating and the story being told. I suppose in some… — Ayana Mathis Character Copy Share Image
“I probably always will be. But I’ve been mad all my life, and I finally figured out that I couldn’t keep carrying… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
“I make a point of seeing the sunset. Even if I am on duty, I go on deck to watch the sky… — Ayana Mathis Sunset Copy Share Image
“...Hattie wanted to give her babies names that weren't already chiseled on a headstone in the family plots in Georgia, so she… — Ayana Mathis Family Copy Share Image
“Hattie clambered from the train, her skirt still hemmed with Georgia mud, the dream of Philadelphia round as a marble in her… — Ayana Mathis Dreams Copy Share Image
If there had never been the Great Migration there would never have been jazz, there would never have been Michelle Obama. A… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
“His soul was susceptible to god's whimsy, just as his body was susceptible to any opportunistic thing that might hurt it. If… — Ayana Mathis God Gift Copy Share Image
Even if you don't feel like sitting down to write or working on that big proposal, or whatever it is, just show… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
“At home they thought of white people as a vague but powerful entity--like the forces that control the weather, that capable of… — Ayana Mathis Race Copy Share Image
Fiction writing is an act of imagination, lived experience is secondary in many ways, writing a novel really is all about inventing… — Ayana Mathis Books Copy Share Image
