From her 2004 Q & A at Barnes & Noble:
What was the book that most influenced your life or your career as a writer?Read the complete Q & A.
I discovered Jeanette Winterson's strange, surreal novel about Napoleonic Venice, The Passion. I had read some trashy lesbian fiction before, but this was the very first book I found that had lesbian themes and was a work of great art. I realized-- duh! -- that it was possible to be "out" and a literary writer as well, and I started writing my first novel, Stir-Fry, the same year. I haven't liked all Winterson's books since, but I've always admired her uncompromising flair.
* * *
Do you have any special writing rituals? For example, what do you have on your desk when you're writing?
I hate desks, they make me feel like a child doing homework. So I work on a laptop, usually on my lap as I sit on the sofa in my office. But I couldn't care less where I am and have happily written in airports, cafes, hotel rooms.
* * *
If you could choose one new writer to be "discovered," who would it be?
Abby Bardi's first novel, The Book of Fred, is a wholly original, hilarious take on a girl's life in and out of a fundamentalist cult, and I think it should be "discovered" in great numbers.
Visit Emma Donoghue's website.
--Marshal Zeringue