What the short story needs above all is for one of the big publishers to get an equivalent series up and running and to support it and promote it.

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've written over 100 short stories. You could say I'm obsessed with short stories.

What the short story needs above all is for one of the big publishers to get an equivalent series up and running and to support it and promote it.

The Belgians tend to downplay the cultural divide issue, and the far-right issue, but there's a staggering degree of casual racism in Belgium, much worse than in the UK.

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.

I have no patience with up-themselves authors who complain about having to trail round a few bookshops signing stock.