Taiye Selasi

As a novelist, I ask of myself only that I tell the truth and that I tell it beautifully.

I've written fiction for as long as I can remember; it's always been my preferred form of play.

Being a twin, and being my sister's twin, is such a defining part of my life that I wouldn't know how to be who I am, including a writer, without that being somehow at the centre.

I had this wild imagination. I was never me. All my childhood photos, I'm in fancy dress, playing a Russian refuge or Marvelous Mad Madam Mim.

It's hard to imagine anyone interested in film not being a fan of Alfred Hitchcock because he's such a key influence on the entire history of cinema - it's hard to escape his shadow.

I'd date someone younger or older; age doesn't matter to me. Or looks, really - it's all about maturity.