Worcester
born Paul Kingsnorth has his roots in the environment and ecology, in fact he
was once the deputy editor of the Ecologist and has been involved in several protest movements, as well as
working for Greenpeace. His writing stayed within this area of expertise with
his non-fiction book ‘One No, Many Yeses’ and but this year his first true novel ‘The
Wake’ raised a storm of acclaim, winning the Gordon Burn prize and reaching the
Man Booker Longlist.
What is the first book you remember
reading?
I can
remember learning ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’ from Lewis Carroll off by
heart at the age of about five or six.
What effect does being an author have
on you as a reader?
It’s hard to
say. I’m not sure it has any effect at all. I still love books for the reason I
always have – they enlighten me and take me into other worlds. Perhaps as an
author I am more conscious of examining other peoples’ ideas and the ways they
write now.
Are there any books you can read again
and again?
Plenty, but
probably mostly poetry. I return a lot to Robinson Jeffers and R S Thomas and W
S Merwin’s work.
Are there any genres that you wouldn’t
choose to read?
I don’t
really think in genres – I just choose books that look interesting. That said,
I don’t think I’ve ever read anything that would fit into the ‘romance’ category!
What is the current book on your
nightstand/coffee table?
I’m reading
Eimear McBride’s novel ‘A Girl is a Half-formed Thing’, which really is as good
as the reviews say it is.
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