Mo Yan is the Chinese equivalent of the Soviet Russian apparatchik writer Mikhail Sholokhov: a patsy of the regime.

I usually write in my kitchen, which is a large, octagonal room that looks into woods - three big windows look out into the trees.

People believe the only alternative to randomness is intelligent design.

In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.

I'm a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other, and how they can achieve the kind of freedoms that they're interested in.