Quotes by Tea Obreht

About Tea Obreht:

Téa Obreht is an American novelist. She won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2011 for The Tiger's Wife, her debut novel.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Being taken seriously, for a young writer, is a wonderful form of encouragement, but at the same time, I don't think one should ever feel like attempting a kind of artistic endeavor is beyond your scope just because of age or inexperience.

Tea Obreht

...fear and pain are immediate, and that, when they're gone, we're left with the concept, but not the true memory--why else...would anyone give birth more than once?

Tea Obreht

In the end, all you want is someone to long for you when it comes time to put you in the ground.

Tea Obreht

Believe me, Doctor, if your life ends in suddenness you will be glad it did, and if it does not you will wish it had. You will want suddenness, Doctor.

Tea Obreht

In my earliest memory, my grandfather is bald as a stone and he takes me to see the tigers.

Tea Obreht

...a hazy yellow moon was climbing along the curve of the old basilica on the hill. As it rose, it seemed to be gathering the silence up around it like a net.

Tea Obreht

No matter how grave the secret, how imperative absolute silence, someone would always feel the urge to confess, and an unleashed secret is a terrible force.

Tea Obreht

Everything necessary to understand my grandfather lies between two stories: the story of the tiger’s wife, and the story of the deathless man. These stories run like secret rivers through all the other stories of his life – of my grandfather’s ...

Tea Obreht

It's a sad thing to see, because as far as I know, this man Gavo had done nothing to deserve being shot in the back of the head at his own funeral. Twice.

Tea Obreht

The best fiction stays with you and changes you.

Tea Obreht

A lot of writers that I know have told me that the first book you write, you write about your childhood, whether you want to or not. It calls you back.

Tea Obreht

In the mess of moving from place to place, I skipped two grades in the space of one year.

Tea Obreht

My grandfather and I were very close.

Tea Obreht

At the end of the day, it's about the reader's attachment to and belief in the magical elements that make or break magical realism.

Tea Obreht

When I was eight years old, I wrote a paragraph-long short story about a goat on my mother's hundred-pound, black-and-white-screen laptop. The story came about largely because I liked the way the word 'goat' looked on the page, but I decided then and...

Tea Obreht

My road to publishing actually came through a colleague who connected me to my agent, and the faculty at Cornell was very supportive.

Tea Obreht

I like dark subject matter. I'm not sure what that means about me!

Tea Obreht

I am very interested in place, and the influences of place on characters.

Tea Obreht

What inspires me most to write is the act of traveling.

Tea Obreht

I do no writing while I'm in Belgrade visiting my grandma.

Tea Obreht

Author Bio

  • NameTea Obreht
  • DescriptionAmerican fiction writer
  • BornSeptember 30, 1985
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionNovelist; Author
  • WorksThe Tiger's Wife