Category: Essays

There are, however, a lot of blokes on this list. Which is not surprising: there are a lot of blokes about, writing books. But I was missing half of the puzzle.

Everything I wrote myself I hid or promptly threw away, whether revenge fantasies or what I later found out is called fan-fiction. I had no notion of becoming a writer, however, until I was nearly eighteen years old. At that point I quite suddenly realised I was one, whether I would or no.

Writing, like love, is complex and fraught with ambivalence. It can feel elusive, intangible, and it can make us doubt. But, like the best kind of love, it can also raise us up...

It’s a problem if you claim unicorns are real and we can capture them.

The thick skin I developed from my profession helped me to overcome the disappointment of numerous rejections.

For a very long time I only read dead authors but expanded my horizons after I felt I had a solid enough literary cushion beneath me. At alumnae reunions, our ancient librarians fought to sit with me.