I think a lot about race and the burdens of representation. There's an idea that because I'm writing a book set around the time of the Great Migration, and happen to be black, I'm trying to write a definitive account… — Ayana Mathis 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 failing to make a different manuscript work, and I thought I was just taking a break by writing… — 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 (then called… — Ayana Mathis 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 come, and… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
I think of my success as a kind of fluke. How else could I possibly think of it? And although it's a banal thing… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
You have to find a way of shutting the future out and focusing on the writing. One of the problems I'll have with writing… — Ayana Mathis 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 who happens… — Ayana Mathis 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 reckon you… — Ayana Mathis 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 soon she… — 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 in the… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
“Hattie’s children died in the order in which they were born: first Philadelphia, then Jubilee.” — 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 never been… — 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 human being… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
“I go above deck to watch the sky darken into twilight. It helps me remember that this strange place is still the earth, and… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
