The inspirations behind my Booker-longlisted book  

I wanted to write something that felt immediate and didn’t dwell on itself, something that clipped along at an exciting pace and was eventful but still contained a strong emotional throughline. I was inspired mostly by the area I am from and the people who occupy it, with a dash of Elmore Leonard and Dashiel Hammett for structure and style. I was also inspired by some superb voice-driven work I’d read recently such as Cherry by Nico Walker, Hostages by Oisin Fagan and The Round House by Louise Erdrich, The Thing About December by Donal Ryan, The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine. These all come to mind because they are all also, in one way or another, concerned with one or more acts of violence that tend to upend a fragile status quo. 

The book that made me fall in love with reading  

I fell in love with books before I fell in love with reading through a teacher that read aloud to us daily. The first book I picked up to read on my own and found that I could in fact have the same experience if not better on my own, was The Witches by Roald Dahl. 

The book that made me want to become a writer  

There isn’t one that comes to mind. It could very well be The Witches, or Fantastic Mr. Fox, or any number of the books that my teacher had read to me when I was seven years old. I remember that we had a few creative writing exercises in that classroom that I took to with a passion, so really my love of reading and my love of writing were born together. 

The book I read again and again 

There are so many books that I want to read in a short lifetime that going back to re-read is a rare indulgence. I am keen to revisit Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko and Commonwealth by Anne Patchett. 

The book that changed the way I think about the world  

The Heart is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. When I reflect on that book I tend to think about how much of life is a series of sincere yet incomplete attempts at connection. How our understanding of one another is limited by our own experiences and how because of this, two people who want the same thing can completely miss each other.

The book that changed the way I think about the novel  

I’m not sure what way I think about the novel. There are novels that I consider to be ‘capital-n Novels’, which for the most part are large and expansive with many intersecting storylines. I recently read Alone in Berlin, and my thought about a third of the way through was ‘this is a novel’. It wasn’t until I was in my late teens to early twenties that I realised the power of the quiet novel, and the balance between what is said by what is left unsaid. I remember being taken in by the sights, sounds and happenings of The Sun Also Rises but finding real moments of quiet power in the scenes when Jake would retire to his room alone at the end of a chapter. 

The book I’m reading right now  

I am reading Death in the Andes by Mario Vargos Llosa. I picked it up after a trip hiking the Salkantay Trail in Peru this summer, and after reading the non-fiction title The Shining Path by Orin Starn and Miguel La Sterna, which is an excellent companion book for the novel. 

Where I most like to read 

There is an armchair in my apartment that I’ve been making great use of. I lived for a long time with my extended family, where the couches and armchairs were often occupied and the only quiet place to read was my bed, so this is a real luxury. 

Where and when I most like to write, and the tools I need  

I wrote most of All Them Dogs first thing in the morning from my bed in my grandparents’ home. I had a self-pouring kettle on my bedside locker with a mug of instant coffee granules ready from the night before, and a sunlight alarm clock. But all I really need is a quiet room, my laptop, and a little bit of self-esteem. 

The Booker-nominated book everyone should read  

Anne Enright’s The Green Road. She’s one of the best to ever do it.