Emma Donoghue

Writers should be applauded for their ability to make things up. ”

For all that being a parent is normal statistically, it's not normal psychologically. It produces some of the most extreme emotions you'll ever have. ”

I love it when novels contain a broad cast of characters, including queer ones. ”

I'm really not one of these procrastinators who cleans the house in order to put off writing, but life gets in the way. ”

I'm finding that success is way more time-consuming than failure ever was. ”

Kids delight in 'magical thinking', whether in the form of the Tooth Fairy or the saints: whether you see these as comforting lies or eternal verities, they are part of how we help kids make sense of the world. ”

I have never been depressed or thrown a plate, which I attribute to the cathartic effects of writing books about people whose lives are more grueling than mine. ”

One thing I like about historical fiction is that I'm not constantly focusing on me, or people like me; you're obliged to concentrate on lives that are completely other than your own. ”

The great thing about a short story is that it doesn't have to trawl through someone's whole life; it can come in glancingly from the side. ”

I hate desks; they make me feel like a child doing homework. ”