Author

My assumption when I began writing was that you were never going to make any money. And you were never going to reach everyone. Therefore you had to do as much as you could in the service of something you genuinely believed in. And if you do that and people get upset, well, there you go.

From Dorothy Allison

If you write a book that's as powerful and successful as 'Bastard,' there's a strong desire to prove there's something else.

From Dorothy Allison

When I was growing up, I always read horror books, while my sister read romance novels.

From Dorothy Allison

Class, race, sexuality, gender and all other categories by which we categorize and dismiss each other need to be excavated from the inside.

From Dorothy Allison

I think I would have died if there hadn't been the women's movement. It gave me a vision that I could do something different, and it gave me an understanding that I wasn't a monster, or sport, or a betrayer of my family.

From Dorothy Allison

When I was growing up, I always read horror books, while my sister read romance novels. My sister became unmarried and pregnant during high school, and she kept saying, 'This wasn't supposed to happen! Why is this happening to me?' Someone should have given her another book to read.

From Dorothy Allison

I tell my students you have an absolute right to write about people you know and love. You do. But the kicker is you have a responsibility to make the characters large enough that you will not have sinned against them.

From Dorothy Allison