I wish I got a lie-in on Saturday mornings but I never do.

I'm very eclectic in my music tastes - anything from Nina Simone to Beethoven to Talvin Singh.

I like Beryl Bainbridge a great deal, and she is a writer who absolutely demands to be read a second, third, and fourth time. I admire her great courage in leaving so much unsaid and asking the reader to really engage her brain.

People always want to identify a writer with their protagonist.

I rarely get a moment to myself, but I love the way that my agenda is dictated by the children, not my work.

The thing about getting older is that you don't need everything to be possible any more, you just need things to be certain.

If the culture is so all pervasive that you can’t think outside of it, how are you making genuine choices?