I want to be a popular novelist who's also serious, or a serious novelist who's also very accessible.

Tragedy is one of the larger prices we pay for being alive. No one ever sidesteps tragedy. It is always there, shadowing us.

The decision to write full time was made when I was twenty-eight years old and had just had two small plays accepted for BBC Radio.

We don't like admitting this, but it is a key component of human existence: the fact that life has the potential for things both wondrous and horrific.

There is much to be said for solitude.

We all want to fix things. Just as we all believe that so much in life can be rectified. Mend fences, build bridges, reach out, engage in mutual healing.

From Graham Greene, I learnt how to be an accessible writer who grapples with our doubts as sentient individuals.