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Interview
What are your 5 favourite books, and why?
To be honest, these change all the time. If I’m really into what I’m reading at the moment then that will often top the list. The following have been around for a while:
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: I love everything by Mark Twain but this is a particular favourite. There are lots of things I like about it, the voice, the humour, the humanity, but above all I like it because it is flawed. There is so much about it that shouldn’t — and frankly doesn’t — really work but its brilliance is such that none of that matters. When I’m struggling with my own work Huck Finn gives me hope. There aren’t any rules; just go for it.
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov: I love the playfulness, the exuberance, the sheer intelligence of it. It doesn’t give me hope though; it scares me shitless. It’s just phenomenal.
Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin: I like James Baldwin’s novels and plays but his essays are, for me, his greatest achievement. This collection includes ‘Notes for a Hypothetical Novel’ and ‘The Discovery of What it Means to be an American’ amongst others. I find the clarity and intelligence of his writing exciting and inspiring. I like to have this book close at hand.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck: I like to read this in conjunction with Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters which contains the ‘letters’ Steinbeck wrote each morning to his editor before starting work on East of Eden, in which he discusses the writing coming up, problems he forsees and how to solve them etc. It’s good to read when working on a long project yourself, like having a travelling companion. East of Eden is Steinbeck’s most ambitious novel and I like it for that, for the fact it’s trying to do something impossible, for the elemental nature of the characters and the power of their emotions.
Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: Playful, absurd, astoundingly ’modern’. As a writer it makes you feel limitless.
Who are your 5 favourite authors, and why?
Any of the above, plus:
Nikolai Gogol. His stories in particular, such as ‘The Nose’ and ‘How Ivan Ivanovitch fell out with Ivan Nikiforovitch’
Francois Rabelais
Mikhail Bulgakov
Charles Dickens
Jaroslav Hasek
There are numerous others.
Who or what was your biggest influence in deciding to become a writer?
Christopher Isherwood... I fell in love with him in my teens. I still think he’s a superb writer and I especially love the intimacy of his books and the way in which he portrays his intensely human, often morally dubious, sometimes wholly unscrupulous characters with affection and humour whilst never actually colluding with them.
What inspired you to write Poppy Shakespeare?
Poppy Shakespeare was inspired by my experiences as a patient in the mental health system and by the people I met there.
What are you reading now?
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut, another of my favourite writers.
What is the most overrated book you've ever read?
The Brothers Karamazov. It’s just exhausting. The whole thing is written at a single (feverish) emotional pitch. I prefer The Idiot but I’m not a big Dostoevsky fan.
If you could require everyone to read just one book what would it be?
I wouldn’t want to prescribe anything. I think people should read what they want to read and what they enjoy. I don’t believe that there is any one book which would satisfy everyone. On the other hand, I would love it if more people had read Ajax the Warrior by Mary Elwyn Patchett and Susannah of the Mounties by Muriel Denison. They were my two favourite books as a child and I have never met anyone who has read either of them. I believe they’re both out of print now.
What's the best thing you've ever written?
Bits of Poppy Shakespeare, odd lines, odd images.
What's the last piece of your writing that you hated and threw in the wastepaper bin and why?
The last time would be this morning, trying to get the voice right for a story I’m working on. I throw stuff away the whole time; it doesn’t bother me. I find it hard to think without a pencil in my hand; I have to try things out, so there’s always plenty of rubbish.
Is there any particular ritual involved in your writing process (favourite pen, lucky charm, south-facing window)?
I always drink from the same mug when I’m working on a project and I never drink from it when I’m not. For Poppy it was a mug I stole ten years ago from a psychiatric hospital. Now that I’m working on a new book I need a new mug.