Christmas is taken very seriously in this household. I believe in Father Christmas and there's no way I'd do anything to undermine that belief.

How would you prepare to die on a perfect April evening?

Every day is a gift with a child, no matter what problems you have.

It's always good when women win things in fiction because it tends to be more male-dominated, unlike poetry, which is more equal

Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen.

I have piles of poetry books in the bathroom, on the stairs, everywhere. The only way to write poetry is to read it.

I'll be left writing picture books and fairy tales