I find being Irish quite a wearing thing. It takes so much work because it is a social construction. People think you are going to be this, this, and this.

I work at the sentences. Many of the things people find distinctive about my writing, I think of as natural.

The writing day can be, in some ways, too short, but it's actually a long series of hours, for months at a time, and there is a stillness there.

I never wanted to be mainstream as a writer, but look at what's happened.

I think writers worry that you might not exist in some strange way if you're not writing.

I think you know everything at eight. But is is hidden from you, sealed up, in a way you have to cut yourself open to find.

When I'm working, I'm not so much disciplined as obsessive. I have this feeling that I need to clear everything away and get this down.