I am interested in power and in the idea of one country exerting power over another. The Soviets took this to an extreme.

Increasingly, those who used to teach and write critical or theoretical texts are writing fiction, poetry and so on; and kinds of texts are being produced that call for budding readers rather different from those who studied literature in the past.

Who was it recently invented some machine that will enable her to sign a book from 5,000 miles away? Margaret Atwood. Get off your arse, love, and sign it in person. Publishers and circumstance made you a bestselling author. Give a little back.

I love experimental writing, when it's good, and good examples are much more likely to be found in the short form.

I am interested in power and in the idea of one country exerting power over another. The Soviets took this to an extreme.

The idea that a student can write a sonnet or a novel without having a sound understanding about its history, and where it fits into literature as a whole, seems to me to be manifestly daft.

The short story feels like the most natural length for prose fiction, or certainly for the kind of ideas and situations I like to encounter.