Literature isn't a matter of postcodes or coastlines, it's a matter of obsessions and of the universal human experience.Thomas Keneally to Geraldine Brooks after her Pulitzer win.
There is a petty meaness in words like these: "So and so is not really a Malaysian/British/American/Australian (fill in the blank for yourself) author because he/she wasn't born here/only lived here for X years/has lived for abroad for X years/doesn't write about living here," especially as so many writers live between cultures and countries.
I think Keneally's quote wraps up the argument quite nicely.
