‘The Aegean pebble on the desk, the mug with the silly legend, the quiver of blunt pencils, the wonky chair, are vitally important coordinates like the stars to a medieval mariner. The concrete conditions in which I write are important to me.’
Audio
‘Virginia Woolf’s fiction explores the inner lives of intelligent women with courage and originality; she searched for, and found, a way of telling a story that was different.’
‘Poetry is a great thing to give a novelist, I think. Very few of the volumes I own are ones I chose for myself. A treasured collection is by Harry Martinson, sent me by a friend and colleague which I’d otherwise never have come across.’