“His pain was his most precious and secret possession, and Six held on to it as fiercely as a jewel robbed from… — Ayana Mathis Copy Share Image
“The Lord brings us into this world naked, but I don’t suppose he means us to stay that way” — Ayana Mathis God 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
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
“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
“Hattie had never been easy to love. She was too quiet, it was impossible to know what she was thinking. And she… — Ayana Mathis Angry Copy Share Image
“In Georgia, there was a eucalyptus tree in the wood across from Hattie's house, but the plant had been hard to come… — Ayana Mathis Georgia Copy Share Image
“I have looked at my father many times and wondered how he could stand knowing he was my mother’s ruin. He was… — Ayana Mathis Father Copy Share Image
“I take in great lungfuls of air. Atom by atom, the oxygen enters my blood and pumps in waves through my veins;… — Ayana Mathis 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
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
The ways in which theological constructs pose questions about what it is to be a human being on this earth are deeply… — Ayana Mathis 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
“But she was gone, and Hattie wanted to give her babies names that weren’t already chiseled on a headstone in the family… — Ayana Mathis Family 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… — Ayana Mathis Nature 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
“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 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 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
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
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
“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
“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
“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
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
“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
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
