'Moby-Dick' really threw me. I read it when I was 14 and my best friends were books. It changed the way I looked at the world.
From John Burnside
I went for a walk in the Arctic Circle without map or compass. Fortunately, I was only lost for hours, not days.
I remember playing the Mad Hatter in a school play and feeling very comfortable in the character.
I always wanted to be a painter. I loved painting. I went on three different art courses but had no talent whatsoever.
I love long sentences. My big heroes of fiction writing are Henry James and Proust - people who recognise that life doesn't consist of declarative statements, but rather modifications, qualifications and feelings.
For 10 years, I gave away my possessions every year and moved on to a new place.
Growing up, I learnt to think, 'Let's make it a big night tonight, as you never know what's going to happen next.' So now I have enough, I take too much; when I get the chance to have a fine dinner, I will. And it's had an effect on my health.
'The Asylum Dance' was written after I'd moved back to Scotland and was a response to moving to my old home area of Fife.
I moved south when I was 11 years old, moved to England. I've lived in all kinds of places, all parts of England.
I really like to try my hand at everything, and I think it's probably dangerous to let oneself be pigeon-holed, not necessarily by other people, but in one's own mind.
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