Australian writer (1975- )
Soon evening worked its way into the sky, and the city hunched itself down.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl
The flyscreen door slammed behind me.
My feet dragged.
I reached each arm into the jacket.
Warm sleeves.
Crumpled collar.
Hands in pockets.
Okay.
I walked.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl
The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn't be any of this.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
So much good, so much evil. Just add water.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
Sometimes I just survive. But sometimes I stand on the rooftop of my existence, arms stretched out, begging for more.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl
Two weeks to change the world, fourteen days to destroy it.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
Winning wasn't natural for me. It had to be fought for, in the echoes and trodden footprints of my mind.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl
To me the question is always this: if a ray of light came out of the sky and said, "Your next book will never be published -- would you still write it?" If the answer is yes, the book is worth writing.
MARKUS ZUSAK
"Why I Write", The Guardian, Mar. 28, 2008
If her soul ever leaks, I want it to land on me.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl
The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
Crowds of questions stream through me like lines of people exiting a soccer ground or a concert. They push and shove and trip. Some make their way around. Some remain in their seats, waiting for their opportunity.
MARKUS ZUSAK
I Am the Messenger
One of the best things about her was that she actually acknowledged my existence.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl
My friends ... they usually rib me about how I just sleep in and watch Oprah and that I don't really have a proper job. I've given up arguing now, so I just agree with them, even though half the time I realise I've started work before they have. Still, it's best to keep the romantic idea alive. If they call around midday and ask if they woke me, I always say yes.
MARKUS ZUSAK
interview, The View From Here
It kills me sometimes, how people die.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
There are so many moments to remember and sometimes I think that maybe we're not really people at all. Maybe moments are what we are.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl
There would be punishment and pain, and there would be happiness, too. That was writing.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
It was a Monday and they walked on a tightrope to the sun.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
I think that as a writer your responsibility is to search for and stir up the things that are in this world. There is violence in all of us, and beauty, and strength, and weakness. What's my job? To only write about the good and the beauty, or is it to write about all of it? That's my greater responsibility, to write about them as I see them and as they are.
MARKUS ZUSAK
"On Top of His Game: SLJ Interviews Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner Markus Zusak", School Library Journal, Jun. 2, 2014