Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver's novels include We Need to Talk About Kevin, Big Brother, and her most recent, The Mandibles. From her Q&A with Alex Clark for the Observer:

You are a seasoned night owl. What’s the story?

I gravitate to a schedule whereby I end up going to sleep at about 4am, and I don’t know why exactly. I used to identify Newsnight being broadcast at 10.30pm as the source of all my ills, but even when I’m away from Newsnight in the United States I end up keeping to the same schedule. I don’t think it’s exotic. It’s the same thing that everybody does: I get tired and go to sleep and get up, just later in the day.

Is there something about the solitude and quiet that fits with writing?

Yes. When I’ve got a book on the boil, and especially when my husband’s out of the country, which he often is, and in the winter when the sun goes down at three o’clock, I have a segment of time until 10pm when I can get work done. There is something about the lighting, with the desk lamp on, and it’s dark outside; it creates a little...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue