Emma Donoghue

Some writers can produce marvelous plots without planning it out, but I can't. In particular I need to know the structure of a novel: what's going to happen in each chapter and each scene. ”

You know the way there are two kinds of actors - the De Niro kind who's always De Niro, and then somebody like Daniel Day-Lewis, who transforms himself eerily? Well, I aim to be the Daniel Day-Lewis kind of writer. I don't have a house style. ”

You cannot predict literary success; the only way you can possibly aim for it is to do your thing and do it well. ”

I'm not at all snobby about book prizes and how they pollute the world of literature. Just like with the Olympics, a little bit of competition gets people truly engrossed in the business of literature. ”

I got in the habit of giving away a book as soon as I've finished it because I lived in a housing co-op at Cambridge and had no space to keep books. ”

Every parent has those moments where they look at their child and think, 'There's a demon in those eyes and no one can see it but me!' ”

Before I had kids, I thought you should never lie to a kid. But now I've had them, I realize you almost lie to them by definition, because if you're trying to summarize something for your 1-year-old, you put it in very simple terms. You only gradually complicate the explanation as they get older. ”

A memoir is always the most authentic telling of a situation, but a novel gets to different places. ”

I am clumsy, a late and nervous driver, and despise all sports except a little gentle dancing or yoga. ”

I'm named after Jane Austen's Emma, and I've always been able to relate to her. She's strong, confident but quite tactless. ”