I think what I like to do is to begin with the ordinary and find the extraordinary in it. Graham Swift beginextraordinaryfind Change image and share on social
My upbringing was absolutely not the archetypal writer's upbringing. Even, arguably, the opposite. Graham Swift absolutelyarchetypalarguably Change image and share on social
The idea of stopping is not unmeaningful to me. I think there might be a time when, in theory at least, you'd say, 'Well I've mostly done what I want to do.' But how could you ever prevent a few years down the line some germ of an idea getting at you and you've got to do it again? Graham Swift germhaveidea share on social
When anything goes digital, let alone something as immaterial as a book, there is a tendency to see it as just in the air to be taken, and to lose the sense that somebody once made it. Graham Swift airbookdigital Change image and share on social
The e-book does seem at the moment to threaten the livelihood of writers, because the way in which writers are paid for their work in the form of e-books is very much up in the air. Graham Swift airbookform Change image and share on social
There's no such thing as the contemporary novel. Before I seem the complete reactionary, let me add that I've happily joined in many discussions about 'the contemporary novel' where what that usually, unproblematically means is novels that have appeared recently or may appear soon. Graham Swift addappearcomplete share on social
All nature's creatures join to express nature's purpose. Somewhere in their mounting and mating, rutting and butting is the very secret of nature itself. Graham Swift buttcreatureexpress Change image and share on social
I do my thinking while I walk. It just loosens up the mind in the way that you don't get when you are sitting at a desk. Graham Swift deskloosenmind Change image and share on social
I came from a lower-middle-class postwar family in a time of austerity and retrenchment, with no one in the family who was in any way artistic or a potential mentor to a budding writer, and yet this is what I became. Graham Swift artisticausteritybud share on social
