Carol Ann Duffy

Between 9am and 3pm is when I work most intensely.

Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen.

I write in that space between Ella's childhood and mine. I know it all sounds a bit sinister.

I was depressed as a child. I found it hard to make friends. My favourite thing was locking myself in the bathroom and practising comedy routines.

Data, I think, is one of the most powerful mechanisms for telling stories. I take a huge pile of data and I try to get it to tell stories.

Another thing that freaks me out is time. Time is like a book. You have a beginning, a middle and an end. It's just a cycle.