In 1993, an interview with Toni Morrison appeared in The Paris Review—and it feels just as relevant and immediate twenty years later.

Morrison covers vast ground: what makes a good editor, how white writers get black characters wrong (or right), the importance of teaching undergraduate students, and a million other marvelous things.

Bonus: The interviewer is Elissa Schappell, an excellent writer in her own right whom we interviewed in 2011.