Jonathan Coe

“Ah, well, I have no talent for nonfiction, that's my problem.”

“The biggest markets for my books outside the UK are France and Italy, and those are the two countries where I also have the closest personal relationships with my translators - I don't know whether that's a coincidence, or if there's something to be learned from it.”

“But I have always - ever since The Accidental Woman - written novels about individuals attempting to make choices in the context of situations over which they have no control.”

“The writer I feel the most affinity with - you said you felt my books are 19th century novels, I think they're 18th century novels - is Fielding, Henry Fielding, he's the guy who does it for me.”

“But you can try to read books at the wrong time or for the wrong reasons.”

“Luckily, in my case, I have managed, by writing, to do the one thing that I always wanted to do.”

“But at the same time, I have trouble keeping things out of books, which is why I don't write short stories because they turn into novels.”

“They were written in the early '90s when I was strapped for cash.”