Paris or Proust with Will Sutcliffe
Who or what in history would you like to know more about?
I know almost nothing about my own family history before my grandparents. I wish I was able to go back a bit further and find out how the generations before this lived.
Which author/artist/musician inspire you but that few people know about?
Anthony Burgess is well known, but is I think getting more and more forgotten since his death. I think "Earthly Powers" is one of the truly great novels of the 20th century, and I hope it will always be remembered as such.
What image have you seen recently that has affected you?
I was recently in the West Bank, and I cannot get the sight of the Separation Wall out of my head. The experience of seeing it up close, and of going through the checkpoints, is unforgettably horrific.
What language don’t you speak and wish you did, and why?
Arabic. I'd love to be able to travel more in the Middle East, and to understand the region more by speaking to the people who live there, rather than relying on what I can read in western newspapers, which I find increasingly hard to trust on the issues that count in this region.
Coffee or tea?
Coffee.
Describe your sense of humor?
Laconic.
Best piece of advice you were ever given, and who gave it to you?
A professor who taught me at university once crossed out every adjective in one of my essays. I often think of him when I am editing my work.
What question have you wanted to ask but never dared?
I suffer from the opposite problem. I ask too many questions and never know when to shut up.
Paris or Proust?
Paris. You can't eat Proust. Unless you are very hungry.
William Sutcliffe is the author of five novels, New Boy, Are You Experienced?, The Love Hexagon, Bad Influence and Whatever Makes You Happy, which have been translated into twenty languages. He also works as a journalist and screenwriter.
On his latest novel, Whatever Makes You Happy:
Everyone in my family, from my teenaged daughter to my husband and mother-in law, has got something out of it besides laughter.
Amanda Craig, Independent
Very funny A convincing, moving portrait of an evolving relationship between mother and adult son.
Guardian
'Brilliantly observed, howlingly funny and, if you have a son, all too recognisable' Woman and Home 'A moving meditation on miscommunications between sexes, across generations and over dinner tables.
Financial Times
A US link: http://www.amazon.com/Whatever-Makes-You-Happy-Novel/dp/1596914955/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275061627&sr=1-3
And a UK link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Whatever-Makes-Happy-William-Sutcliffe/dp/0747596522/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241511368&sr=1-8
