“When my head is in the typewriter the last thing on my mind is some imaginary reader. I don’t have an audience; I have a set of standards. But when I think of my work out in the world, written and published, I like to imagine it’s being read by some stranger somewhere who doesn’t have anyone around him to talk to about books and writing—maybe a would-be writer, maybe a little lonely, who depends on a certain kind of writing to make him feel more comfortable in the world.”

American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist

Donald Richard DeLillo is an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist. He is known for fiction that takes on modern life and its pressures, from consumer culture and television to politics, economics, sport, and the digital age. Across novels, stories, plays, scripts, and essays, DeLillo returns to the systems and language that shape public and private life. His work also engages with nuclear war, art, and mathematics, often tracing how ideas, media, and technology affect the way people think and speak.