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
When Im writing, my neural pathways get blocked. I cant read. I can barely hold a conversation without forgetting words and names. I wish I could wear the same clothes and eat the same food each day. – 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
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
Since my education, Ive done quite untraditional things. There are very few Etonians who went to Rada. And far fewer Etonians – certainly when I was there – went to Cambridge. I dont know whether its the same now. Most people I knew went to Oxford, because it seemed more of an easy bridge. – Tom Hiddleston