Kevin Barry

I go to Spain a lot, in winter, for a blast of sunlight to banish the blues brought on by the Irish greys and drizzle. I love the cities of the Spanish interior.

I wanted to write about Jews in Montana, so I went there by plane and bus, only to discover that there are no Jews in Montana. It didn't deter me.

What greatly annoys me is sometimes you see the short story being described as a training ground for the novel. Kind of like an apprenticeship. And in lots of ways, it's a far harder form.

Most reporters who come to me get their stories directly from press releases. Very few do what one would consider to be their professional duty.

I'm not a morning person: I can't function until I've had a coffee - or several.

The free sharing and teaching of open source is incompatible with the notion of the solitary genius.