Gary Shteyngart (born Igor Semyonovich Shteyngart; July 5, 1972) is an American writer born in Leningrad, USSR. Much of his work is satirical. Read full biography of Gary Shteyngart →
Silence has been destroyed, but also the idea that it's important to learn how another person thinks, to enter the mind of another person. The... →
Good fiction makes me turn off all the other parts of my brain, so that I become quiet and submissive, entirely at the mercy of the work at hand.
I was very, very sick when I was growing up in Russia. The ambulance constantly came to our house. I had horrible asthma that is easily treated in... →
I write almost entirely in bed or on a couch with my feet up on the coffee table. I feel most creative when I'm looking out the window, and my... →
I always think that good writers should be growing up on the brink of death - it really lets them see mortality very clearly.
The best thing about the iPhone is this that tells me where I am all the time. There's never a need to feel lost anymore.
Communications devices were always used to effect change, to effect revolution. Telephone, telegraph - these all seemed like very big enhancements at... →
I love Paul Giamatti - God, that man is like a walking Chekhov. His connection to humanity is unbelievable, and those feelings of low self-esteem -... →
I love things on the decline because that's really the natural progression of our lives. We're born, we're feisty for the first couple of... →
You want to read a book? That requires introspection. It requires time away from people and time away from the constant need to communicate and to... →
American fiction is good. It would be nice if somebody read it.
I have a love/hate relationship with just about everything, but certainly with America.
I just want fiction to remain a vital force for entertainment and not just for contemplation. Both things can exist.
Gary Shteyngart (born Igor Semyonovich Shteyngart; July 5, 1972) is an American writer born in Leningrad, USSR. Much of his work is satirical.