My father is from Newark in Nottinghamshire and my mother is from the very north of Ireland. They've ended up in Scotland, where my father - well, both of them - will always be seen as having come from somewhere else.

Stella Duffy is a writer who never lets you down.

To be known so well by someone is an unimaginable gift. But to be imagined so well by someone is even better.

We'd never expect to understand a piece of music on one listen, but we tend to believe we've read a book after reading it just once.

Words are like untying a corset - you can move into this great space with them.

I went to the top of Vesuvius and looked in.

I have thought for a long time that the way my clothes hang on me is more important than me inside them.