Zadie Smith and storytelling

Until recently I wouldn't have called myself a storyteller, out of respect for the term. I guess I thought a storyteller is someone with a generative, unlimited imagination, someone who makes worlds . . .
My own writing seemed more prosaic--often my subjects are the simplest things in the world . . . and when I sit down with these subjects, my aim is clarity . . . Nothing makes me happier than to hear a reader say, "That's just what I've always felt, but you said it clearly."

[When I had kids]...