Graham Swift
Graham Swift
Graham Colin Swift FRSLis an English writer. Born in London, England, he was educated at Dulwich College, London, Queens' College, Cambridge, and later the University of York...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth4 May 1949
offering views people
If people read 'Tomorrow' and feel that it is offering them some view of my own household, they would be very, very wrong.
opposites upbringing
My upbringing was absolutely not the archetypal writer's upbringing. Even, arguably, the opposite.
years months novel
Novels, in my experience, are slow in coming, and once I've begun them I know I have years rather than months of work ahead of me.
hate london feels
Of course there are times when I hate London, but equally there are times when I can walk 'round a corner and I really feel that this is my place.
writing get-away impulse
Part of the very impulse of writing for me is actually wanting to get away from myself.
yesterday today news
Today's news, which may be yesterday's anyway, will be eclipsed tomorrow.
book pride years
All novelists must form their personal pacts in some way with the slowness of their craft. There are some who demand of themselves a 'rate of production,' for whom it's a matter of pride to complete, say, a book every year.
beautiful cities weather
London is like no other city I know in its ability to become beautiful. You can suddenly turn a corner and there are odd moments - of light, of weather.
book mean thinking
I think the purveyors of e-books are only too happy for this atmosphere of 'everything belongs to everybody' to increase because it means they don't have to think so much about the original maker of the thing, or they can get away with paying them less.
summer sky names
I share my name with an aerobatic bird that can whiz across a whole summer sky in seconds. A swift is so equipped for speed that it can scarcely cope with being stationary.
doctors might fields
I had a fear of becoming anything, a fear of becoming a specialist. I might have become a doctor, but if you become a doctor, that's your specialty in life and you are defined by it. One of the attractions of being a writer is that you're never a specialist. Your field is entirely open; your field is the entire human condition.
sound london
I respond to the sound of London being spoken - to the sound of London.
book
I don't reread my books.
real illusion real-things
And I didn't know I loved her till I'd dreamt of her. I didn't know it was the real thing until an illusion had signalled it.