I write for young girls of color, for girls who don't even exist yet, so that there is something there for them when they arrive. I can only change how they live, not how they think.

I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago. When I was eight, I was confused at being called “bossy,” because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents — but the boys were not.

There are no new ideas, just new ways of giving those ideas we cherish breath and power in our own living.

There are a lot of things I never did, because I believe in watching those true Hollywood stories and I see how easy it is to lose track of your life.

If somebody can do something 80 percent as good as you think you would have done it yourself, then you've got to let it go.

All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.