“Absolutely not. I think it was partly about timing. It came out early in the pandemic, just when everyone was having a collective existential crisis. It is also about the twentieth book I have written, so you learn along the way to not anticipate reactions, as that is the way to lose your sanity and creativity.”

“I don’t know. When something interests you the question you have in your head is ‘Why isn’t this fascinating to everyone?’ Time is everything. Our obsession with aging and anti-aging. Grief. Nostalgia. History. Heartbreak. It all relates to time.” 

“I never really know. There have been too many. But the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges are probably the most inspiring on a creative level.”

“The House at Pooh Corner. I love Winnie-the-Pooh. It manages to be simple and deep and universal and funny and serious all at once.”