My prose is turgid, it just hasn't got any energy.

It's always good when women win things in fiction because it tends to be more male-dominated, unlike poetry, which is more equal.

I write quite a lot of sonnets, and I think of them almost as prayers: short and memorable, something you can recite.

I think the dangers are different now. Our abuse of the planet and our resources is an anxiety.

I still read Donne, particularly his love poems.

I write in that space between Ella's childhood and mine. I know it all sounds a bit sinister.