People think that I'm very serious.

There comes always a moment when the desire to act, however ill the cause, is stronger than the wish to listen.

The message is clear: libraries matter. Their solid presence at the heart of our towns sends the proud signal that everyone - whoever they are, whatever their educational background, whatever their age or their needs - is welcome.

Library campaigners are not prepared to stand by and watch something they cherish be dismantled brick by brick.

The dead leave their shadows, an echo of the space within which once they lived. They haunt us, never fading or growing older as we do. The loss we grieve is not just their futures but our own.

Lots of people have objections to prizes of all types, and it would be extraordinary if everybody agreed on anything that's worthwhile - they never do.

Actually, I can write anywhere - airport lounges, in bed, on a rattling train going north.