"displacement has been a common path for Jews throughout history; they’ve always been displaced from one place to anot…"

"there are just a lot of stories that I hope won’t be lost. I want to be sure that this legacy remains, even though it…"

"self-interrogation is a special quality of anthropological work, one that we don’t see enough of in fiction. Sometime…"

"In my children’s fiction, I also want to teach them ideas. I don’t want them just to have a story: I’m giving somebod…"

"I often say that I am Jewish because I am Cuban. I feel gratitude toward Cuba because my four grandparents found refu…"

"That is the magic of writing, and also the challenge of writing, not knowing what will happen until it’s on the page."

"I think the most fundamental thing we can do to make the world a better place is to be open to the stories of people,…"

"When we lived in Cuba, I was smart. But when we got to Queens, in New York City, in the United States of America, I b…"

"Being alive is the best gift of all. (p139)"

"“But wherever I go, I know I will feel most at home with the wounded of the world, who hold their heads up high no ma…"