I think the mythology of death really ran away with me when I was very young.

In terms of people that I know, my grandmother and my mother are huge influences on my writing life because they are both massively supportive and always have been of my career.

I've always written about animals. I'm still trying to process why that is.

My mother always says that fear and pain are immediate, and that, when they're gone we're left with the concept, but not the true memory.

When men die, they die in fear", he said. "They take everything they need from you, and as a doctor it is your job to give it, to comfort them, to hold their hand. But children die how they have been living - in hope. They don't know what's happening, so they expect nothing, they don't ask you to hold their hand - but you end up needing them to hold yours. With children, you're on your own. Do you understand?

You never know what's going to happen in your life, and you never know what's going to happen in someone else's life either.

What inspires me most to write is the act of traveling.