Quote

I was very adept at acquiring languages.

I was always influenced by language.

I have been a believer in the magic of language since, at a very early age, I discovered that some words got me into trouble and others got me out.

I just discovered when I was, oh, 12 or 13, that I was very interested in language - and this showed itself as poetry. There was no looking back.

I decided to become an author when my grandmother taught me to write, when I was six. I can still recall the sensation of being able to turn words into stories. It was a miracle.

I fell in love with words in all languages, and I read everything I could find, particularly myths and legends and histories and archeology and any novels.

I became fascinated by the fact that you could translate written material into performance.

The music of language became extremely important to me, and obvious to me. By the time I was seven I was writing myself. I was a poet.

My childhood was surrounded by books and writing. From a very early age I was fascinated by storytelling, by the printed word, by language, by ideas. So I would seek them out.

I was 15 when I first became deeply touched by the rhythm and structure of words.