Richard Ford

Fear and hope are alike underneath.

I'm an equal opportunity reader - although I don't much read plays. And since I was raised a Presbyterian, pretty much all pleasures are guilty.

I haven't scoured Dixie out of my voice. But I don't think that the books that I have written... have really in any way been Southern in character.

I am happy to the spokeswoman for this French youth that tomorrow will be spearhead new hope in the shape of the National Front.

My first career ambitions involved turning into a boy; I intended to be either a railway guard or a knight errant.

I've always been very determined, ever since I was a little girl, to make my way.