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.

I started writing 'Brick Lane' when my children were two years and five months old. We were on holiday in the north of England when I was overtaken by a compulsion to start writing.

I guess there's a sort of cycle with writing books. There's all the researching and then the imagining and writing - which is the real job - and then there's always a period when the book comes out and you have to lift your head and venture out.

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

I always try to create conflict and drama in my books; it's the engine of the novel.

People always want to identify a writer with their protagonist.