Small Talk: Emma Donoghue

Emma Donoghue began to write aged seven – “poems about fairies and crucifixions and things”. Born one of eight children in Dublin, Ireland, in 1969, she graduated in English and French from Trinity College Dublin and received her PhD from Cambridge University. Since the age of 23, Donoghue has earned her living as a writer, and her books include Stir Fry (1994), Kissing the Witch (1997) – a collection of short stories – and The Sealed Letter (2008). Last month, her novel Room was longlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize. She lives in Ontario, Canada with her partner and two children.

What book changed your life?

Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion. I was 19 and I thought, “Oh my God, you can write a lesbian novel that’s not trash.”

When did you know you were going to be a writer?

I was 21 and a graduate student in Cambridge when my agent rang and said she’d sold my first two novels. I ran around whooping.

What are you most proud of writing?

I’m proud of them all, as if they were my children. But Room seems to be touching people in a way that I haven’t been able to before.

What is the strangest thing you’ve done when researching a book?

I got a friend to lace me into an 18th-century corset. It was for my novel Slammerkin. I suddenly understood that they were like armour for women.

What do you snack on while you write?

If I have an adrenalin rush after I finish a scene, I go to my chocolate casket, which is on a high shelf so the kids can’t get it.

Which literary character most resembles you?

I’m named after Jane Austen’s Emma, and I’ve always been able to relate to her. She’s strong, confident but quite tactless.

Who are your literary influences?

Austen. Dickens. Alice Munro, whose books are a model of how to get a lot into a few pages.

What are you scared of?

This year I’m scared of success. I’m scared I’ll lose my sense of humour.

Where is your favourite place?

A ravishing bit of coast near Perpignan in France. My mother and sister have a house there.

What book do you wish you’d written?

Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum. It plunges into the story of an unhappy family with verve and bounce, but it’s true to the pain as well.

How would you earn your living if you had to give up writing?

I’d go on the dole and reduce my spending to amost nothing. It’s painful to consider anything but writing.

Emma Donoghue’s novel ‘Room’ is published by Picador