Lin-Manuel Miranda has revealed his favorite authors. The creator of the Hamilton musical and co-author of Hamilton: The Revolution (pictured, via) sat for an interview with The New York Times to talk about his reading habits and the writers he holds in high regard.
Some of the writers that Miranda most admires include Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Díaz, bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert, and renowned poet Sarah Kay. During his childhood, he favored A Wrinkle in Time novelist Madeleine L’Engle, The BFG author Roald Dahl, and Ramona series creator Beverly Cleary.
When Miranda was asked to explain what he enjoys about literature, he replied: “I’m most in awe of novelists, who move sets, lights, scenery, and act out all the parts in your mind for you. My kind of writing requires collaboration with others to truly ignite. But I think of Dickens, or Cervantes, or Márquez, or Morrison, and I can describe to you the worlds they paint and inhabit. To engender empathy and create a world using only words is the closest thing we have to magic.”