“Ideas are the easy part. I spend a lot of time batting them away, trying to keep them from distracting me from what I actually have to focus on and finish. A lot of times, they are a siren temptress beckoning me with the promise of a much shorter, simpler, more slender novel over the horizon, but of course that's very dangerous.”

American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer

Michael Chabon is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. He was born in Washington, D.C., and is known for fiction and essays that have made him a prominent contemporary literary voice. He studied first at Carnegie Mellon University and then at the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated in 1984. He later earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine. His work spans novels, screenwriting, columns, and short fiction.