Anne Enright

If your life just falls apart early on, you can put it together again. It's the people who are always on the brink of crisis who don't hit bottom who are in trouble.

I became a full-time writer in 1993 and have been very happy, insofar as anybody is, since.

I'm really lucky with the people around me. They know me, so they don't confuse the issues, really. They know what a book is and they know who I am and they know the difference between the two.

When I do my makeup, it kind of helps me get into the character that I'm trying to portray.

I have a naturally camp sensibility and a camp sense of humour. I love the icons that gay people love.

They said I couldn't play anything but an English boy. I knew I could. So I went to New York.