I never expected to write a book about a slum in Ireland that was going to catapult me, as they say, into some kind of - onto the best seller list.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
People who think I have insulted Ireland or Limerick or my family have not read the book!
I had a very happy childhood, which is unsuitable if you're going to be an Irish writer.
Irish fiction is full of secrets, guilty pasts, divided identities. It is no wonder that there is such a rich tradition of Gothic writing in a nation so haunted by history.
I've also worked hard portraying an Ireland which is fast disappearing. Ireland was a very depressed and difficult place in the 1980s, and I've tried to include that in the script. I worked really hard to find the heart of the book.
For me, it's all about The Dubliners by James Joyce. I love The Dead.
When I wrote 'Lord of the Flies' - I had no idea it would even get published.
The only book worth writing is the book that threatens to kill you.
In the country places of Ireland, writing is held in certain awe: a writer was a dangerous man from whom they instinctively recoiled.
Show me an Irishman who can't tell a story - I don't think they exist.
My first novel didn't sell well. It was really painful and humiliating and shocking to me.