The Orange prize has been pivotal in the careers of many women writers - it's given them that extra push, and that extra dollop of confidence.

Does feminist mean large unpleasant person who'll shout at you or someone who believes women are human beings. To me it's the latter, so I sign up.

That is how we writers all started: by reading. We heard the voice of a book speaking to us.

Vanity is becoming a nuisance, I can see why women give it up, eventually. But I'm not ready for that yet.

Forgiving men is so much easier than forgiving women.

If you knew what was going to happen, if you knew everything that was going to happen next—if you knew in advance the consequences of your own actions—you'd be doomed. You'd be ruined as God. You'd be a stone. You'd never eat or drink or laugh or get out of bed in the morning. You'd never love anyone, ever again. You'd never dare to.