When I was growing up, the exam system didn't allow you to write fiction, so you never did.

The problem with being Irish... is having 'Riverdance' on your back. It's a burden at times.

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.

It's hard for me to measure them, or to assess my books because I'm so close to them.

She's a pot-of-tea-before-I-say-boo-to-you woman. There's always a pile of warm teabags in the sink when I come down, like what a horse would leave behind.

When I was a kid, if you didn't speak Irish, you really wanted to. And you played Gaelic games and you didn't pay any attention to what was happening in the outside world, because really, the - Ireland was the center of the universe. And I don't think that's the case anymore, although, admittedly, it is the center of the universe.

My parents were sixty years married.