Sally Rooney

“I'm not totally comfortable with the ways in which our culture monetises art and literature.”

“I started writing 'Normal People' not knowing that anyone would read it, not knowing that anyone would read the first book, so I didn't really have any hang ups about, 'Oh, I can't do this again. I've done this already.' It was just a project I was working on for my own amusement.”

“I try not to let myself get too wrapped up in the image of whatever my books have become in the outside world.”

“A lot of people ask me, did debating help me as a writer, and I honestly don't know.”

“One thing debating did was bring me in contact with a whole social world that I had never experienced before. It's sort of a very international, very niche hobby.”