I started writing books for children because I could illustrate them myself and because, in my innocence, I thought they'd be easier.

Payments to the disabled are getting slashed and people like me are getting a tax cut. Who could possibly think that is a good thing?

I could invent another world. I'm not terribly keen on this one.

I was born too late for steam trains and a lazy eye meant I'd never be an astronaut.

All the other children at my school are stupid. Except I'm not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what they are.

When I was writing for children, I was writing genre fiction. It was like making a good chair. However beautiful it looked, it needed four legs of the same length, it had to be the right height and it had to be comfortable.

Mother used to say it meant Christopher was a nice name because it was a story about being kind and helpful, but I do not want my name to mean a story about being kind and helpful. I want my name to mean me.