Art is a hideously painful business, you know. Pity me! Or at least buy me a drink. - Kevin Barry

A prize with money attached to it has a lot of prestige.

I've been haunting bookshops and hiding behind display signs of TV chefs (Nigella is excellent to hide behind as she has a huge arse) as I spy on the short fiction section and see if anyone's tempted by my sweet bait. I've also been counting how many copies of the book are left in shops, and I've been covering other “upcoming” authors’ books with mine.

I miss journalism an awful lot.