Small talk

Where is your favourite place in the world?
St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. It feels like it’s at the center of things, even though it’s off-center and out of work. It’s has a very deliberate harbour entrance, and seeing polar exploration ships docked waiting for ... whatever, adds a spice of adventure.

What book changed your life?
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It made me realize that literature could be hilarious as well as instructive and beautiful.

What does it mean to be a writer?
To try on new costumes and seeing that nothing bad happens. Except you learn stuff.

What books are currently on your bedside table?
John Irving’s Last Night in Twisted River and En Perfekt Storm, a book about the global meltdown by a Swedish free thinker named Johan Norberg. Plus a couple of yearbooks from the Swedish Touring Association. They’re great, but I never get around to finally finishing them.

Who are your literary influences?
Joseph Heller, John Irving, Tor Nørretranders, Justin Quirk, Lucy Kellaway.

How do you relax?
Running, meditating or watching American sitcoms like Scrubs or Two and a Half Men.

Where do you write best?
At my desk, not overlooking anything. In my dreams, though, I have a little gazebo like the one Sting has, with a tiny stove and wooden benches.

What are you most proud of writing?
My Masters paper on freedom of expression in Southeast Asia. We were encouraged to explore alternative literary modes of presentation, and I took the challenge and ran.

What is your daily writing routine?
I fiddle around between leaving and collecting at daycare, then do my real writing between 9 pm and 1 am.

Who is your perfect reader?
A woman who is desperate to escape reality and doesn’t have her hopes up. She is female because I find them more forgiving.

What would you change about yourself?
My obsession with having everything neat and tidy before I get started. Needless to say, sometimes I get nothing written.