I think it's quite difficult to understand what kind of life a writer leads. They might be millionaires, or they might be starving people.

I grew up in Britain before it became a multicultural place, so in many ways I have a nostalgia for an England that's vanished - the England of my childhood has actually disappeared.

One need hardly dwell on the catastrophic possibility of uttering a bantering remark only to discover it wholly inappropriate

Poor creatures. What did we do to you? With all our schemes and plans?

I find Japanese books quite baffling when I read them in translation. It's only with Haruki Murakami that I find Japanse fiction that I can understand and relate to. He's a very international writer.

Screenplays I didn't really care about, journalism, travel books, getting my writer friends to write about their dreams or something. I just determined to write the books I had to write.

The world is crawling with authors touring now. They're like performance artists.