Quote by Ayana Mathis

“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

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

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

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

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

“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

“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

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

“Hattie’s children died in the order in which they were born: first Philadelphia, then Jubilee.”

— Ayana Mathis

“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

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

“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