"I was kind of solitary. I'd spend a lot of time on my own, reading books. I didn't integrate very well."

"I called the boss a ‘fucker’ one day – not to his face, but it got back to him – so that was the end."

"I used to write in the Rathmines public library. I was on the dole and living in a bedsit down the road. It was too c…"

"I don't want to become the kind of writer who's putting out a book every two years. Money is not my primary concern. …"

"I think if you've got something to say and you can say it with less, that's the way to go."

"I write to discover something, not so much to set down what I already know. I see ignorance and confusion all around …"

"Tolstoy's War and Peace is overblown – do yourself a favour and read his Death of Ivan Ilych."

"The ‘novel’ is a publishing convention that deforms the story. If more attention were given to form there would be fe…"

"The real writers are tenacious creatures, and they found a way long before there were writers workshops and creative …"

"Beloved, it is morn! A redder berry on the thorn, A deeper yellow on the corn, For this good day new-born."