“The writer isn’t made in a vacuum. Writers are witnesses. The reason we need writers is because we need witnesses to this terrifying century.”

— E.L. Doctorow

Interview in Writers at Work (1988)

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E.L. Doctorow 25

novelist, editor, professor 1931–2015

Grace Paley (1922–2007) American writer and activist

“An elegant writer has observed, that wit may do very well for a mistress, but that he should prefer reason for a wife.”

Charles Caleb Colton (1777–1832) British priest and writer

Vol. I; LXXI
Lacon (1820)

“If you need drugs to be a good writer, you're not a good writer.”

Rod Serling (1924–1975) American screenwriter

The Rod Serling bio page on the Internet Movie DataBase.
Other

“In this century the writer has carried on a conversation with madness. We might almost say of the twentieth-century writer that he aspires to madness. Some have made it, of course, and they hold special places in our regard. To a writer, madness is a final distillation of self, a final editing down. It's the drowning out of false voices.”

Don DeLillo book The Names

Source: The Names (1982), Ch. 5

“A writer needs a pen, an artist needs a brush, but a filmmaker needs an army.”

Orson Welles (1915–1985) American actor, director, writer and producer

“The reason that I like to use classical myths as models is because African American writers and African American stories are usually understood as occurring in some kind of vacuum — because of slavery.”

Jesmyn Ward (1977) American writer

Source: On using mythology in her works in “INTERVIEWS: Powell's Interview: Jesmyn Ward, Author of 'Sing, Unburied, Sing'” https://www.powells.com/post/interviews/powells-interview-jesmyn-ward-author-of-sing-unburied-sing in Powell City of Books (2017 Aug 29)

“In as much as people are fascinated by stories, we writers have a duty to reflect issues that need attention in society.”

Suraj Sani (1996) Nigerian writer, Spoken word artist

Interview (12-12-2020), Vanguard Nigeria https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/12/how-my-writings-would-contribute-to-the-fight-against-terrorism-suraj-sani/