Fiction that responds to recent world events is a hostage to fortune, because all momentous events look very different a year, two years, three years later.

I don't mean that literary fiction is better than genre fiction, On the contrary; novels can perform two functions and most perform only one.

Every happiness is a hostage to fortune.

We are getting viewed as one of the hot locations in the world, and we've hosted these massive events like Live 8 and the Republican Convention. This is a logical step to take — to take a big step and show that we're a proud and solid community.

If the world comes to an end, I want to be in Cincinnati. Everything comes there ten years later.

At 20, 25, 30, we begin to realise that the possibilities of escape are getting fewer. We have jobs, children, partners, debts. This is the part of us to which literary fiction speaks.