I personally, as a teenager, didn't like books I felt were trying to preach to me... I did not believe in happy endings. I wanted to read books which reflected life as I thought I knew it.

I loved reading when I grew up but did feel totally invisible because I couldn't see myself and my life reflected in the books I was reading.

I wanted to have a body of work behind me before I wrote about racism.

A love of books has opened so many doors for me. Stories have inspired me and taught me to aspire.

I believe we need more culturally diverse books - about disabled characters, though not about their disability, about people with different sexual orientations, or a boy who is a cross-dresser. We need to reflect the diversity of our society.

That just the way it is. Some things will never change. That's just the way it is. But don't you believe them.