Australian writer (1975- )
MARKUS ZUSAK
interview, The Guardian, Feb. 25, 2014
People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spot blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
Big things are often just small things that are noticed.
MARKUS ZUSAK
I Am the Messenger
I like that every page in every book can have a gem on it. It's probably what I love most about writing--that words can be used in a way that's like a child playing in a sandpit, rearranging things, swapping them around. They're the best moments in a day of writing -- when an image appears that you didn't know would be there when you started work in the morning.
MARKUS ZUSAK
The Book Thief
I look at my first books and am glad they weren't published.... You start writing by imitating your heroes, then you keep the heart of that worship in your work. As time goes by, you get other influences and find your own voice.
MARKUS ZUSAK
"On Top of His Game: SLJ Interviews Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner Markus Zusak", School Library Journal, Jun. 2, 2014
I wanted to drown inside a woman in the feeling and drooling of the love I could give her. I wanted her pulse to crush me with its intensity. That's what I wanted.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl
I don't really know that this story has a whole lot of things happen in it. It doesn't really. It's just a record of how things were in my life during this last winter. I guess things happened, but nothing out of the ordinary.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Underdog
I see how complicated it is to make a film and how many people are involved and I love the fact that I get to sit in a room on my own and the set costs nothing and the actors cost nothing and I'm the director and it's so simple. You just need a pen and paper to make a book. You don't need a huge budget or a gaffer or a best boy.
MARKUS ZUSAK
interview, The Guardian, Feb. 25, 2014
For a moment, I debated whether I should tell someone about the words I'd started writing down, but I couldn't. In a way, I felt ashamed, even though my writing was the one thing that whispered okayness in my ear. I didn't speak it, to anyone.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl
I don't write poetry or short stories. I don't like to write articles usually. I tend to really only want to be focused on writing novels. It's one of the real advantages I've had over the years. I've only been good at one thing. It helps to be limited.
MARKUS ZUSAK
"On Top of His Game: SLJ Interviews Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner Markus Zusak", School Library Journal, Jun. 2, 2014
It's funny, don't you think, how time seems to do a lot of things? It flies, it tells, and worst of all, it runs out.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Fighting Ruben Wolfe
A happening was looming. It was out there somewhere beyond the regular enclosed life that I had been living. It was out there, not waiting, but existing. Being. Perhaps it was only slightly wondering if I would come to it.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Underdog
Not a beauty queen. Not one of those. You know the ones. She was real.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Underdog
The happening that happened was that I met this girl.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Underdog
There was sex, of course.
Nakedness.
Wall to wall, in and out of my thoughts.
But when it was over it was her whispering voice I craved, and a human curled up in my arms.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl
I'm just another stupid human.
MARKUS ZUSAK
I Am the Messenger
A fight's worth nothing if you know from the start that you're going to win it.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Fighting Ruben Wolfe
It is early, early morning. It's that time when it's still dark but you know the day is coming. Blue is bleeding through black. Stars are dying.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Underdog
I was standing there, waiting for someone to do something, till I realized the person I was waiting for was myself.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Underdog
It feels like spoken words, this bridge. I want it but fear it. God, I want so desperately to reach the other side -- just like I want the words. I want my words to build bridges strong enough to walk on. I want them to tower over the world so I can stand up on them and walk to the other side.
MARKUS ZUSAK
Getting the Girl