I say "on principle" [regarding 'lesbian writer'] because whenever you get one of your minority labels applied, like "Irish Writer," "Canadian Writer," "Woman Writer," "Lesbian Writer" - any of those categories - you always slightly wince because you're afraid that people will think that means you're only going to write about Canada or Ireland, you know.

In the publishing world, most editors are probably women. So I don't see the publishing world as a male-dominated one, especially within fiction.

Me and Ma have a deal, we're going to try everything one time so we know what we like.

I'm very interested in how idealistic young people can get caught up in all sorts of systems of extreme belief, you know, whether it's cults or whether it's suicide bombers.

I read a lot of social history. If I'm in an art gallery and a picture intrigues me, I immediately write down the title and I google it. I do a lot of googling and looking out for good stories. I can almost smell them sometimes.

I've certainly seen stats that if you have a woman director or a woman screenwriter, the number of female characters goes way up.

Scared is what you're feeling. Brave is what you're doing.