'I don't care much for the literary world.'

‘I feel more alien to book culture than I ever have, I think. Partly because of age. I don't care much for the literary world. I think people basically accept me now. To begin with I was stunned how rude people were. They would say to me, "Well, sex always sells", or "It helps that you are pretty." This was 30 years ago. Thankfully that doesn't happen so much now. And I no longer have to answer.'

Mary Gaitskill, author of a startling debut collection, Bad Behaviour, and The Mare, in the Observer