Quotes About Literature

It is more difficult to keep the attention of hearers than of readers.

Critics have a problem with sentimentality. Readers do not. I write for readers.

All prizes have a role, if they are run with integrity and with a clear focus on reading and quality writing. I don't think any of them is necessary, but they all play an incredibly important role in building a body of literature, in introducing new authors to new readers, and extending reading.

The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.

I really try to focus on my books and readers.

If you write genre fiction, you follow the rules, and you have to follow them because readers expect that.

In terms of characters I wish I had created - just because I haven't dealt with anything like them - I'm really impressed by characters who can endure over time, whether that be a long series run like a Harry Bosch, or a character who endures over generations and continues to please readers: Sherlock Holmes.

Part of me becomes the characters I'm writing about. I think readers feel like they are there, the way I am, as a result.

Children's authors don't talk down or patronise their younger readers.

I don't write to give joy to readers but to give them a conscience.

If I use the word 'khichdi' in my novel, I don't have to get into the trouble of explaining that it is a dish of rice and lentils. My Indian readers know it.

I don't care if my books don't sell abroad; we have a large enough market in our country. I write for Indian readers.

What most readers do not realize is that it takes a particular genius to write funny, to satirize.

Sometimes, readers, when they're young, are given, say, a book like 'Moby Dick' to read. And it is an interesting, complicated book, but it's not something that somebody who has never read a book before should be given as an example of why you'll really love to read, necessarily.

An aging writer has the not insignificant satisfaction of a shelf of books behind him that, as they wait for their ideal readers to discover them, will outlast him for a while.

I meet blind and partially-sighted young readers all the time, and it's a shock that so few books are available to them.

To be a writer, you must be a reader, yet as many as 30 per cent of my writing students were not readers.

My father was an engineer - he wasn't literary, not a writer or a journalist, but he was one of the world's great readers.

I wrote my first full book when I was fourteen, and that was 'Obernewtyn.' It was also the first book I had published. It was accepted by the first publisher I sent it to, and it was short listed for Children's Book of the Year in the older readers category in Australia.

Writers are essential. Readers are essential. Publishers are not.

I think a lot of readers are looking for a book they can talk about.

I've been saying for years that readers want inexpensive ebooks.

All writers I know are readers first and foremost, and that's why you become a writer.

Reading is a free practice. I think the readers are free to begin by the books where they want to. They don't have to be led in their reading.