I've never had very high regard for therapists. I owe my health, my mental survival, to my friends and loved ones.

If bigots behave like bigots, it's not a huge surprise.

Sometimes we feel we straddle two cultures; at other times, that we fall between two stools.

In our time, we have become too interested in the artist and his or her character and experience as a way of understanding art. In my view, you should be able to read a book or see a film without knowing a single thing about conditions or circumstances or character of the artist, and experience the work to the full without such information. Sometimes I feel - speaking for myself - that people know much too much about me, and I wish people knew less and could just read these books and respond to them purely as words on a page.

I've never read anything so badly written that got published. It made 'Twilight' look like 'War and Peace.'

The frustrating part of being tagged 'controversial' is people go looking for trouble where there isn't any to look for.

You don't that often see writers being sought out when there are matters of great moment to discuss. And I think that's a loss.