I think as a writer you never have to flee from fame because you're not that visible in the first place, but, after the Broadway success of 'Beauty Queen,' people were coming up to me all the time, and I wasn't really prepared for that level of attention.

It's the periods and the commas that you have to forget about. The words never change, but the intonations change.

I don't even subscribe to writer's block being a truthful thing. I've had writer's laziness quite often. But I think it's all about sitting down and facing down the blank page and doing it, and I've always been ok at that.

It's the way that I think about the world, and the way that I like to tell stories - I don't think you should get too heavy. There's enough out there, in the world, with violence. I think that comedy lightens the heaviness [of the world].

I pick and choose what I want to do at any given time, and what not to do, importantly. My agents, I won't hear about any offers or options.

I'd just like to thank everybody who was involved in the film, especially Brendan Gleeson and Ruaidhrí Conroy. And Ruaidhrí, I'm sorry that you couldn't be here tonight but I hope next time, if they let you into the country.

Though it may not seem like it, I never try to write about a place, per se; it's always, first and last, about story. Story is everything. Story and a bit of attitude.