What are you reading right now?

Handiwork by Sara Baume.

Tell us a bit about it:

A beautiful and vivid feast about the craft of creation.

What is your favourite book of all time?

1984 by George Orwell.

Tell us a bit about it:

The most misanthropic of dystopian novels that somehow still manages to retain some appreciation for beauty and hope.

What book do you remember most from your childhood?

Matilda by Roald Dahl.

Tell us a bit about it:

It's a book that doesn't speak down to its readers, and while the trials of the hero are actually quite awful, there is a consistent and important feel of sunshine and relief maintained throughout.

Which of your books is battered from using over and over again?

The Penguin Dictionary of English Synonyms & Antonyms.

Tell us a bit about it:

Does what it says on the tin.

What is your favourite book by an international writer?

Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Tell us a bit about it:

Takes fantasy and firmly roots it in a personal tale about gender and loss.

Which book do you feel depicts your own or another culture most vividly?

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.

Tell us a bit about it:

A phantasmagorical exploration about identity within colony.

Was there a book that really changed your mind about something?

Solar Bones by Mike McCormack.

Tell us a bit about it:

It manages to take a highly conceptual and potentially challenging stylistic approach and ground it firmly with insightful tales of the everyday across a lifetime.