Every parent has those moments where they look at their child and think, 'There's a demon in those eyes and no one can see it but me!

I'm really not one of these procrastinators who cleans the house in order to put off writing, but life gets in the way.

I think I know what it's like to have a family that the outside world sees as peculiar or lacking.

I think ultimately the film 'Room' is a kind of hymn to motherhood and to the everyday heroism of parents who find their smiles in terrible times.

With my first book, I was hired to write a draft of the script. I was so young and less confident. They put me through seven or eight drafts and it was just getting worse and worse, and then the film was never made.

Something we do know is that review coverage does go to male authors more than women authors. That's a fact. I think it's one of those examples of unconscious bias: If you hire a lot of male journalists, they're more likely to pick up the latest Ian McEwan novel than the latest A.S. Byatt novel.

For all the books in his possession, he still failed to read the stories written plain as day in the faces of the people around him.