Author

Two or three things I know for sure, and one is that I'd rather go naked than wear the coat the world has made for me.

Gravy is the simplest, tastiest, most memory-laden dish I know how to make: a little flour, salt and pepper, crispy bits of whatever meat anchored the meal, a couple of cups of water or milk and slow stirring to break up lumps.

From Dorothy Allison

Change, when it comes, cracks everything open.

From Dorothy Allison

Every kid I meet who's a reader has got something like that, their fantasy world. And science fiction is the best, especially for girls because it's the one place where you can do the forbidden.

From Dorothy Allison

I was born in 1949, and by the time I was 10, I figured out that my hope chest was not aimed in the same direction everybody else's was. And that life was going to be very, very complicated. And that I could either be provocative and declamatory, or shy, retiring and scared.

From Dorothy Allison

It's important to set challenges that you're not sure you're equal to.

From Dorothy Allison

I think it's wonderful that people in pickup trucks are buying two flats of dog food and a copy of 'Bastard.' I want my view of the world to be right up there next to gallon boxes of Tide.

From Dorothy Allison

It's fun to tease people about where fiction and life intersect.

From Dorothy Allison

I'll tell you the secret. When you begin with a character, you want to begin by creating a villain.

From Dorothy Allison

My son, Wolf, was born when I was past 40 and the author of a best-selling novel. That means he has grown up a middle-class child - one who sometimes asks me for stories of my childhood but knows nothing of what it means to grow up poor and afraid. I have worked to make sure of that.

From Dorothy Allison

Dorothy Allison

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