Colm Toibin

Life has a funny way of becoming ordinary as soon as it can.

Between the ages of 8 and 12 it was difficult to know what my father was saying, and he moved very slowly, and then he died.

The old Victorian laws against homosexuality were still on the statute books until the early 1990s. As a gay man living in Ireland, I and people like me found it easy to feel less than citizens.

Sometimes I have to be pulled down to reality. I want everything to happen all at once.

I confess that I listen to my own music for my own pleasure.

My style is Edie Sedgwick meets Grace Jones, or Audrey Hepburn meets Salt 'n' Pepa. Strong and feisty but still classic.