My own career started in New York at the 'Associated Press', a fast-paced news agency where we rarely had time for deep reporting.

The strength of fiction is not in reading about yourself, but in reading about other people.

What the art world has done, it has been constantly been pushing the boundaries about what art can be. It's like expanding its territory.

My intent was to gain experience for fiction I eventually hoped to write. But there's no question I was drawn in by the hope that journalism would be a creative, thrilling environment.

My education was paid for by the RAF Benevolent Fund, so a charity school, run like an orphanage, with uniforms and beatings. It was tough, but it got me to Cambridge - like being a chrysalis suddenly becoming a butterfly.

If I had to work a 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. job in the public service, I'd freak out.

A lot of people quit looking for work as soon as they find a job.

Dad worked his entire career as an aviation technician. Mom was a legal secretary who became a teacher. We lived a simple American life.