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Not all art is great; most of it's rubbish.

The creation is a very internal process, and publishing the book is a very external process. It is nice to see the book out in the world and people having the same reaction as when I created it. The point of all art is the emotional transference, and when that happens, the book has succeeded.

Poetry is not mainstream, but then neither is serious fiction, really. But I don't think there's a lot to worry about in this particular 'problem'. Why does art have to be mainstream to be significant?

Believe it or not, there were very few books on art, years ago.

Some people act as though art that is for a mass audience is not good art, and I think this has been a very negative thing. I know that I have wanted very much to write books that are accessible to the widest audience possible.

There is no denying the aesthetics of a well-made, well-loved book.

The novel is the first art form that is an honest-to-god commodity. That's what makes it different from both high art and folk art.

A lot of people are intimated by art, but it's something to be revered beyond criticism.

Art is for anyone. It just isn't for everyone. Still, over the past decade, its audience has hugely grown, and that's irked those outside the art world, who get irritated at things like incomprehensibility or money.

In America, the only truly popular art form is the movies. Most people consider painting a hobby and literature, schoolwork.