In the 1970s and 1980s there was so little decent fiction for young people, but we're now in a golden age that shows no sign of fading. Philip Pullman, J. K. Rowling, Lemony Snicket are only three of the best known among a good number of equals.

I'm from a time and place where bigheadedness was a really savage crime, and you'd get cut down for it by your peers and parents.

I think the story is the most ancient form of human entertainment.

Words are what you fight with but what you fight about is whether or not you're afraid of them.

So winners, Hae-Joo proposed, are the real losers because they learn nothing? What, then, are losers? Winners?

As long as our civilisation keeps trundling along generally forwards, then there is the possibility of a future where ethnicity is merely an interesting badge, not a uniform you can't take off.

I’m scared of the future. I’m scared of the past. I’m nervous at the moment.