My first collection of poems was published by Bloodaxe Books, which was then a very new imprint.

I enjoy research; in fact research is so engaging that it would be easy to go on for years, and never write the novel at all.

For you where never my blood sister so no more shall I call you little sister

I didn't choose Russia but Russia chose me. I had been fascinated from an early age by the culture, the language, the literature and the history to the place.

As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed by what we are told by our parents, our teachers, our intimates.

If we understand the past, we are more likely to recognise what is happening around us.

Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn't work, throw it away. It's a nice feeling, and you don't want to be cluttered with the corpses of poems and stories which have everything in them except the life they need.