I dreamed of having a book of my own, of writing one that I could put on a shelf.

I never dreamed that in my lifetime my own genome would be sequenced.

What is writing but an expression of my own life?

I like having my own story remain my story.

My parents were very humanistic, but where we lived was not the cultural center of the world. Hardly. So I came to New York for two reasons: to find my own kin and also to get a job. And that's what I came to New York for in '67.

The issue of gender was never my biggest concern; my biggest concern was doing good work. When the feminist movement really got going, I wasn't an active part of it because I was more concerned with my own mental pursuits.