I never learnt Hebrew because my health was fragile, and it was thought that learning Hebrew would be an added burden. I regret it, because I would like to be able to join in fully. Not that I am a believer, but I would like to be.

Great writers are the saints for the godless.

Good women always think it is their fault when someone else is being offensive. Bad women never take the blame for anything.

Existentialism is about being a saint without God; being your own hero, without all the sanction and support of religion or society.

As any parent, teacher, or librarian knows, there is no richer experience than to see children's faces light up at the suspense of a new tale or the surprise of a new poem. The uninhibited joy with which they listen is surely akin to that of adult audiences of old around campfire and hearth.

Creating large numbers of decent jobs for young people is critical for achieving overall development objectives, from poverty reduction to better health and education.

Doctor Who' was my first telly job, and before that I did a lot of theatre in education, children's theatre.

The novel is about five students of classics who are studying with a classics professor, and they take the ideas of the things that they're learning from him a bit too seriously, with terrible consequences.