‘I’ve lost count of the number of artists I’ve seen live and become a fan of because I was saving my spot in the crowd for a band I liked. It’s similar at a book festival. The force of a writer’s personality, the life they give their characters, can attract followers.’
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‘I was bundled into a double-act with the late Howard Marks, international drug trafficker turned memoirist. Our preparations were not exactly rigorous’
‘I found myself trying to get into a prison, past a guard who looked me up on Wikipedia on his phone to check that I was really a poet.’
‘In the Hay green room, I once met Carlos Fuentes. I admired him so much that I took a selfie with him; only the second time I have ever done such a crass thing.’