The West sees Iran as an important force in the gulf.

It is very, very easy not to be offended by a book. You just have to shut it.

It may be argued that the past is a country from which we have all emigrated, that its loss is part of our common humanity.

In Iran, fundamentalism was fuelled to an extent by the regime of the Shah being supported by the West.

I always thought storytelling was like juggling [...] You keep a lot of different tales in the air, and juggle them up and down, and if you're good you don't drop any.

People would come and threaten them. And they would respond by putting the book in the window. Behind that, the publishers, many of whom were menaced and receiving anonymous phone calls of the very menacing kind and so, almost everybody - not everybody, but almost everybody held the line.

One of the things I've learnt is not to depend on there being a woman in your life to make it work. I love my work, I love my children, I've got wonderful friends, you know, I have a nice life.