The idea that a student can write a sonnet or a novel without having a sound understanding about its history, and where it fits into literature as a whole, seems to me to be manifestly daft. — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
I was particularly drawn to Berlin because of its literal, concrete division. Two halves making a whole, or two entities that were altered doubles of each other? Twins that had been separated and kept in neighbouring houses and raised according… — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
The short story feels like the most natural length for prose fiction, or certainly for the kind of ideas and situations I like to… — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
I've written over 100 short stories. You could say I'm obsessed with short stories. — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
I have no patience with up-themselves authors who complain about having to trail round a few bookshops signing stock. — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
I'm not trying to write cinematic novels, but I have been told several times that my style is cinematic. — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
“The uncanny is not a literary genre. But nor is it a non-literary genre. It overflows the very institution of literature. It inhabits, haunts,… — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
I was interested in the ways that artists responded to totalitarianism - the Czech Jazz Section, Romanian absurdist theatre, Brecht's alienation effect. The anything-goes,… — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
There has been corruption in the Belgian civil service and at government level for decades. The Royal family do what they can to hold… — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
The idea that a student can write a sonnet or a novel without having a sound understanding about its history, and where it fits… — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
The Belgians tend to downplay the cultural divide issue, and the far-right issue, but there's a staggering degree of casual racism in Belgium, much… — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
I only like naturalistic stories. I love short, fantastic stories that cast a spell over the reader, that transport you instantly to another place… — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
What the short story needs above all is for one of the big publishers to get an equivalent series up and running and to… — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
Who was it recently invented some machine that will enable her to sign a book from 5,000 miles away? Margaret Atwood. Get off your… — Nicholas Royle Copy Share Image
