“I feel like one of the things that is central to American life is the religious experience, and I think that the experience of being Muslim in America is as valid and as important a perspective on the religious experience of America as evangelical Christianity or Judaism - whatever it may be.” ThinkingFeelsMayImportantAmericaLife IsReligiousChristianityPerspectiveJudaismEvangelicalAmerican LifeReligious Experience Author:Ayad Akhtar
“I think of myself as a narrative artist. I don't think of myself as a novelist or screenwriter or playwright. All of those modalities of processing and experiencing narrative are obviously very different, and I'm not sure that I prefer any one to the other. I think the novel gives you the opportunity to have a kind of interiority that you can't have in the theater, which is pure exteriority.” ThinkingGivingKindDifferentArtistOpportunityNovelNot SurePlaywright Author:Ayad Akhtar
“I've always felt a connection to kids who go to church. I think I'm fundamentally a religiously oriented and religiously minded person. It's very easy for me to communicate with people who have that same grounding, that same vocabulary or modality of thinking and expressing themselves.” PeopleThinkingKidsEasyChurchCommunicate Author:Ayad Akhtar
“I think there is a lot of continuity between the Jewish and the Islamic traditions. We know this historically, though people don't want to talk about that - especially Muslims. There is a common source for both Judaism and Islam, or let's say that Islam finds its source in Judaism. The commonalities of practice and sensibility, ethos and mythos, create a lot of overlap.” PeopleThinkingCommonTraditionIslamIslamicSensibilityJudaismCommonality Author:Ayad Akhtar
“I think that literary forms are losing their capacity to connect people to issues, to the experiences that feel most meaningful to them.” PeopleThinkingLosingMeaningful Author:Ayad Akhtar
