At home in Ireland, there's a habit of avoidance, an ironical attitude towards the authority figure.

But that citizen's perception was also at one with the truth in recognizing that the very brutality of the means by which the IRA were pursuing change was destructive of the trust upon which new possibilities would have to be based.

Irish readers, British readers, American readers: is it odd that I haven't a clue about how differently they react? Or better say, I cannot find the words to describe my hunch about them.

Harvard meant a lot in my writing life from the beginning, even though I didnt actually do much composition on the spot.

When I first encountered the name of the city of Stockholm, I little thought that I would ever visit it, never mind end up being welcomed to it as a guest of the Swedish Academy and the Nobel Foundation.

I shall gain glory or die.

The thing about writing is that if you have the impulse, you will find the time.