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William Trevor is an author I admire; his stories are subtle and powerful, and beautifully written.

Who learns most from a good book is the author.

When it comes to writers, I'm a huge fan of Ian McEwan. I've never taken a writing course, but reading and deconstructing his novels has been as good a lesson as any.

I think really good books can be read by anybody.

That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time.

Anthony Powell taught me to write; he has such brilliant control of the mechanics of the novel.

I love Richard Yates, his work, and the novel, Revolutionary Road. It's a devastating novel.

I get sent a lot of scripts which feature him as a kind of all-purpose Victorian literary character and really understand little, if anything, about him, his life or his books.