I always write back to people who are kind enough to write to me. Actually, I don't write - I recline on my red velvet sofa with my feet on the coffee table and dictate the letters to my eldest son.

I always wanted to be Jo in 'Little Women.' She's a bit reckless and feckless, always getting into trouble like me. But I'm probably more like Madame Bovary.

When all my kids were at home, I used to write from midnight onwards.

I'm spectacularly disorganised. I wrote my latest book in seven different notebooks scattered throughout my house.

In an age of molecular genomics, it is ever more apparent that the fingerprints of evolution are pressed deeply into human DNA, just as they are into the genomes of every other organism. Biologists understand this, and so do students who study the science of life.

My mom was a history teacher when I was a kid, so I hated history out of rebellion.

Economists report that a college education adds many thousands of dollars to a man's lifetime income - which he then spends sending his son to college.

I am a firm believer that upon release, ex-offenders should be afforded a second chance to become productive citizens by providing rehabilitation and education that will help them join the workforce.