My desk is covered with talismans: pieces of rose quartz…

“The writer’s life requires courage, patience, empathy, openness. It requires the ability to be alone with oneself. Gentle with oneself. To be disciplined, and…

— Dani Shapiro

I never troll for material. It simply presents itself, and is always unmistakable. This is why I want to roll my eyes when people…

— Dani Shapiro

I had never really felt settled in Brooklyn. I think it had to do with growing up in New Jersey and being someone who…

— Dani Shapiro

When I near the end of a book, it feels as if the entire universe meets me more than halfway and supports me. The…

— Dani Shapiro

Everything you need to know about life can be learned from a genuine and ongoing attempt to write

— Dani Shapiro

We don't choose what's going to wake us up.

— Dani Shapiro

Everything changes. The more I try to hold on to the moment, the more it slips through my fingers.

— Dani Shapiro

There is no end to the promotion. There is no end to the possibilities. You can continue to promote a book for years, literally.

— Dani Shapiro

We can't protect ourselves from pain and heartache.

— Dani Shapiro

A writer with her work needs to be like a dog with a bone all the time. She needs to know where she's hidden…

— Dani Shapiro

“Oh, child! Somewhere inside you, your future has already unfurled like one of those coiled-up party streamers, once shiny, shaken loose, floating gracefully for…

— Dani Shapiro

I never feel so alive as when I'm writing and the work is going well.

— Dani Shapiro

I do strongly identify with being Jewish. I was raised Orthodox and had a childhood complicated by the fact that my father was deeply…

— Dani Shapiro

The fact is that most husbands, regardless of religion - it's an old-fashioned gender divide where the husband wants to stay home and the…

— Dani Shapiro

Novels are my favorite to write and read. I do like writing personal essays, too. I'm not really a short story writer, nor do…

— Dani Shapiro