Top 25 Kim Edwards Quotes

One of my greatest times of inspiration is when I’m traveling or living in a new country – there’s a tremendous freedom that comes from being unfettered by your own, familiar culture, and by seeing the world from a different point of view.

I like to think I’ve grown as a writer and taken some risks, but I still consider myself to be a literary writer.

The way we behave, our views and outlooks really have their sources some place. They come from somewhere. Sometimes we don’t even know what they are, and yet they’re very powerful in our lives.

I lived for two years in Odawara, a castle town an hour outside of Tokyo, near the sea. It’s a beautiful place, and I drew on my experiences there when writing ‘The Lake of Dreams.’

‘Middlesex’ by Jeffrey Eugenides left me both moved and, at times, laughing out loud in delight.

Many Lexington natives believe they live in a special place, one impossible to leave. I’m not so sure about that – or it’s more accurate to say I think a more general truth exists beneath it: the place you first call home stays with you always, whether you remain or go.

The secret at the heart of ‘The Memory Keeper’s Daughter’ is something everybody, except for some of the characters, knows in Chapter 1. Some of the narrative tension comes from that distance between what the readers know and what the characters know.

I always talk to my students about the need to write for the joy of writing. I try to sort of disaggregate the acclaim from the act of writing.

I never know as a writer when I set out into a novel where it’s going to take me.

I don’t think we’ll ever lose the desire for people to tell stories or to hear stories or to be entrapped in a beautiful story.

Lexington is home to the University of Kentucky, where my husband and I teach, as well as to Transylvania University, the oldest college established west of the Allegheny Mountains, and several multinational companies; people come and go from all over the world.

As a writer and as a reader, I really believe in the power of narrative to allow us ways to experience life beyond our own, ways to reflect on things that have happened to us and a chance to engage with the world in ways that transcend time and gender and all sorts of things.

In writing, I want to be remembered for telling good stories in beautiful and powerful language, using the poetry of words to reflect the thematic concerns of compelling stories.

You don’t want to engage in road rage when the person in the next car might be your child’s future teacher or your dentist’s father.

Your understanding of a place changes the longer you stay; you discover more, and your own life gets woven into the fabric of the community.

My first job was in a nursing home – a terrible place in retrospect. It was in an old house, and the residents were so lonely. People rarely visited them. I only stayed there a couple of months, but it made a strong impression on me.

I’ve always set my stories in places I know well. It frees me up to spend more imaginative time on the characters if I’m not worrying about the logistics.

William Trevor is an author I admire; his stories are subtle and powerful, and beautifully written.

You don’t know when you are immersed in a book what the reaction to it will be, but I feel great about ‘The Lake of Dreams.’

I had a great life even before ‘The Memory Keeper’s Daughter’ took off. I really enjoy teaching.

I haven’t done any genealogical exploring myself, though members of my family and also of my husband’s family have traced things back. I have a great grandfather on my mother’s side who was a musician, and I’d like to know more about his life.

I find my husband’s family history fascinating, as they can trace the family lineage back to ancestors who fought, and died, in the first battle of the Revolution, as well as to many other interesting people.

Though my stories aren’t autobiographical, I do sometimes use things from my life.

‘The Lake of Dreams’ grew gradually, over many years, elements and ideas accruing until they gained enough critical mass to become a novel.

I swam across Skaneateles Lake, about a mile, when I was 11 years old. I remember feeling when I was in the middle of the lake that I would be there forever, and having no idea where on shore I’d end up. I made it, and I’m proud of the determination and persistence that took.