I don't consider myself an artist. I consider myself a very opinionated man who uses words as fighting tools.

Writers who are activists are very rarely taken seriously as artists.

I consider myself a very lucky man indeed.

Some reporter called me 'the angriest gay man in the world' or some such. Well, it stuck, but I realized it was very useful.

Activism is very seductive, and writing is painful and hard. It's very scary to have a death threat living over your head. Activism is very sustaining. But I don't view myself as a political person. I'm just someone who desperately wants to stay alive.

When I sit down to write, I consider myself an artist.