'I don't believe in waiting for inspiration to strike.'

At some point, I will get down to actually writing. I don't believe in waiting for inspiration to strike. I'm sure inspiration does arrive at some point, but I would never embarrass it by noticing its arrival or departure...

As a writer, there are always shortfalls, disappointments and anxieties. I think there's a kind of mini depression you sink into. You cultivate an unhappiness and the only response to that is to write creatively. There's a connection between creativity and unhappiness: you have to work at it...

After winning the Booker Prize in 2007 for The Gathering, life got very busy, and I was made Irish Laureate last year, which was lovely. It means I have to read a lot of new Irish fiction, which is fine, fulfil a few teaching requirement in Dublin and New York, and give a few lectures.'

Anne Enright, author of The Green Road in the Sunday Times magazine