I had a very happy childhood, which is unsuitable if you're going to be an Irish writer.

I have an irregular heartbeat, so that means a fair amount of medication - and I have blood pressure pills, too, but no vitamins or supplements.

I have great family and good friends; the stories I told became popular, and people all over the world bought them.

I once got a huge, expensive flower arrangement from a person I didn't like, who sent it out of pure guilt. It had a hideous bird-of-paradise in the middle, and I thought it would never fade and die. I hated it.

My brother married young, and his is the best marriage I know.

If I had my life to live all over again, I really think I would have been a fit person. Looking around me, I realise that the men and women who walked and ran and swam and played sport look better and feel better than the rest of us.

If you don't go to a dance you can never be rejected but you'll never get to dance either.