Australian writer (1975- )
I think she ate a salad and some soup.
And loneliness.
She ate that, too.
MARKUS ZUSAK
I Am the Messenger
Sometimes people are beautiful. Not in looks. Not in what they say. Just in what they are.
MARKUS ZUSAK
I Am the Messenger
I find writing extremely difficult. I usually have to drag myself to my desk, mainly because I doubt myself. And it's getting harder because I want to improve with every book. Sometimes I guess it's best just to forget there's an audience and just write like no one will ever read it at all.
MARKUS ZUSAK
"Why I Write", The Guardian, Mar. 28, 2008
One opportunity leads directly to another, just as risk leads to more risk, life to more life, and death to more death.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
The words were on their way, and when they arrived, she would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
Somewhere, far down, there was an itch in his heart, but he made it a point not to scratch it. He was afraid of what might come leaking out.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
You can do anything when it's not real.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl
Failure has been my best friend as a writer. It tests you, to see if you have what it takes to see it through.
MARKUS ZUSAK
"Why I Write", The Guardian, Mar. 28, 2008
A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
Do we spend most of our days trying to remember or to forget? Do we spend most of our time running towards or away from our lives?
MARKUS ZUSAK
Fighting Ruben Wolfe
Only in today's sick society can a man be persecuted for reading too many books.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
We underestimate teenagers at our peril. Even the dismissive thing out on the street--look at what they're wearing. Then we'll hear stories about how a toddler fell on the tracks, and it's often a teenager who comes to the rescue and walks away because he or she doesn't want any credit. I recognize it because I've written books for teenagers--it's basically that they feel things more than adults do. They want things more than you think. They want things with greater depth than you think they do. Teenagers have got a lot of soul that adults have forgotten they have within themselves.
MARKUS ZUSAK
"On Top of His Game: SLJ Interviews Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner Markus Zusak", School Library Journal, Jun. 2, 2014
You can kill a man with those words.
No gun.
No bullets.
Just words and a girl.
MARKUS ZUSAK
I Am the Messenger
I guess I'm what you call a slush-piler. I just sent my manuscripts to the slush pile of publishers and hoped for the best. Over seven years, I was rejected seven times on three different books. The fourth attempt was picked up by a small publisher, and I still have great memories of staying up all night, talking to my brother and sisters (my dad called me at 2:30 in the morning because I was overseas).
MARKUS ZUSAK
interview, The View From Here
But for now, happiness throws stones.
It guards itself.
I wait.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl
I'd rather chase the sun than wait for it.
MARKUS ZUSAK
I Am the Messenger
Even death has a heart.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skills is their capacity to escalate.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
People abhor boxing, and I agree, but I admire men and women who can stand in a ring like that, nowhere to hide. I've only been to a couple of boxing matches, and they're different from any other event. I'm not there to see blood; I'm there for the heart of someone being able to get up and keep going. And for the respect that's often there in the end.
MARKUS ZUSAK
"On Top of His Game: SLJ Interviews Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner Markus Zusak", School Library Journal, Jun. 2, 2014