I think I view myself primarily as a fiction writer. Poetry is more of a hobby, a time of rest from the hard work of writing fiction.

It is true that I didn't write any poetry between 1995 and 2011. The reason for this was probably because I had stayed away from fiction for so long and couldn't tear myself away from it.

In fact, the very phrase teaching creative writing sounds to me oxymoronic. How can you teach someone to be creative?

How can you teach someone to be creative? You have to create yourself.

Except for the usual house chores, doing income tax, etc., I am free to write whenever I want.

Imagination is so much more fertile than life.

I find that biographical material holds me back, hampers my creative process, cramps my imagination.

That is one more reason why I write in English only right now. I prefer writing in the language I hear around me for the people by whom I am surrounded.

I am uneasy about the practice of other people telling you how to write. This is especially true for beginners who haven't yet developed their style and their writer's persona and are easily pushed off the course.

I must say that, on the whole, I prefer fiction to poetry.

I've done a lot of going back and forth with my own writing, in particular translating my English language stuff into Ukrainian - poetry as well as prose. But I actually hate doing it. It is a thankless, mind-numbing process, additionally unpleasant for me because it reminds me of my ambiguous status of not belonging anywhere.