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I think there have always been male writers, female writers. As a reader, I never picked up a book and said, 'Oh, I can't read this - it's about a male,' and set it back down.

Why does 'writer' have no gender, but 'actor' has a gender? What is that?

Lots of my writing can be accurately called lesbian, but I myself am queer and date people of all genders.

I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not.

I'm not an especially male novelist, but I think men are better at writing about men, and the same is true for women. Reading Saul Bellow is a revelation, but he can't write women. There are exceptions, like Marilynne Robinson's 'Gilead,' but generally, I think it's true.

It's difficult to write a book where a character is on virtually every page of the book but you cannot refer to his or her gender. It gets rid of every his, her, she and he.

I think printed fiction is what women read.

Literary fiction is kept alive by women. Women read more fiction, period.

It is difficult to get men to pick up a female author. Women will read men, but men won't read women.