After winning the Pulitzer Prize did you feel like you had conquered all, on top of the game?

Until an aunt said to me that “”remember you’re not the smartest one to come out of this neighborhood.”” Humility is a good thing. I grew up in the country, and the library was the best exposure my mom ever gave me.

You are 18 years old, where can I find you?

I had hair, in the paste-up shop earning money so I could go to college at West Virginia University.

Worst trouble you’ve ever been in, with the feds, your mom, a girlfriend?

Well some of these I can’t share. Craziest time was probably in my early 20s. It was common that if you took a road trip you packed luggage and a case of beer.

Did you rock the bell-bottoms?

I was post bell-bottom.

So Afros?

No, the hair went away when I was 19. Streaking, I had my streaking moments, West Virginia Library through the main stacks with a woman, and no one was looking at me because she had some gargantuan attributes.

Ever broken a woman’s heart?

I don’t know, I try not to be a heartbreaker.