George Murray quotes:

In fact, in some ways, I actually feel much more confident about the quality of Carousel than I do about The Cottage Builder's Letter: probably because of its cohesive nature.

Then I discovered I loved writing poetry more than fiction.

I was writing notes, but not composing poems. The Hunter began to develop out of this fragmented process.

I think the main influence has been living in New York City. Aside from all the crap around 9/11, I find it very demanding to think amid all the noise and visual pollution.

It's a bit of a crapshoot out there with young writers right now anyway.

Even the people who have had success and made money writing these books of fiction seem to feel the need to pretend it's no big deal, or part of a natural progression from poetry to fiction, but often it's really just about the money, the perceived prestige.

I am certainly suffering from a modicum of performance anxiety.

I guess there is also an element of deliberate change involved. Each of my books has been, at least from my point of view, radically different from the last.

New York was breaking my concentration and disintegrating my thoughts.

Well, we all start thinking we're going to be Romantic rock stars, but then reality hits and you realize no one reads you but other poets.

I wanted to rock back and forth between myth and distant futures, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It felt a bit like prophecy and a bit like storytelling.

I've often entertained paranoid suspicions about my fridge and what it's been doing to my poetry when I'm not looking, but I never even considered that my fan was thinking about me.

Humour is a fine line to walk in poetry, as in fiction. I just think it's harder to write. It's harder to keep the respect of the reader too."

I still write the occasional short story, and poked at a novel once, but it's just not what I want to do.

With 'Carousel' I had an idea and it all came out quickly.

The whole competition thing disturbs me. Not that I wasn't a part of it when I first started.

I think, for me, humour needs to be used like a strong spice - sparingly.

I'm not interested in being easy anymore. Readable, yes. Easy, no.

I feel as though I've fooled the world into thinking I'm an adult and now they're letting me procreate.