Fairy tales opened up a door into my imagination – they dont conform to the reality thats around you as a child. I started reading when I was three and read everything, but I wanted to be an actress. – Kate Atkinson
The cult of the individual is killing us. I think Twitter signals the death of western civilisation, but people have been saying that since Demosthenes. – Kate Atkinson
My father was an autodidact. It wasnt a middle-class house. Shopkeepers are aspirant. He paid for me to go to private school. He was denied an education – he had a horrible childhood. He got a place at a grammar school and wasnt allowed to go. – Kate Atkinson
Life is a very orderly thing, but in fiction there is a huge liberation and freedom. I can do what I like. Theres nothing that says I cant write a page of full stops. There is no should involved, although you wouldnt know that from literary reviews and critics. – Kate Atkinson
A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed, it feels an impulsion… .this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reason and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons. – Richard Bach