I tend to plan as I write. And I want to leave myself open and the character open to keep on going until it seems to be the time to stop.

If there is a heaven, Jane Austen is sitting in a small room with Mother Teresa and Princess Diana, listening to Duran Duran, forever. If there's a hell, she's standing.

My parents were sixty years married.

I'm going to sound like an old man but at my age, it's lovely doing something that you've never done before.

To claim that music is more important than oxygen would be trite and sentimental. It would also be true.

I've been asked why does Ireland produce so many great musicians, and the answer is it doesn't. When you count the great musicians Ireland has given the world in the last 20 years, you can do it on one hand.

It's great meeting children because you never know what they will say.