When I was a youngster, I was brought up in a very political background on an estate in north London. – Jim Crace
Retiring from writing is to avoid the inevitable bitterness which a writing career is bound to deliver as its end product in almost every case. – Jim Crace
Sixteen years as a freelance features journalist taught me that neither the absence of ‘the Muse’ nor the presence of ‘the block’ should be allowed to hinder the orderly progress of a book. – Jim Crace
As a Midlander and a big walker, I’d always loved ridge and furrow fields, the plough-marked land as it was when it was enclosed. It is the landscape giving you a story of lives that ended with the arrival of sheep. – Jim Crace
Narrative has been part of human consciousness for a long time. And if it has played a part in all those thousands of years, it will know a trick or two. It will be wise. It will be mischievous. It will be helpful. It will be generous. – Jim Crace
Writing careers are short. For every 100 writers, 99 never get published. Of those who do, only one in every hundred gets a career out of it, so I count myself as immensely privileged. – Jim Crace
I’m not going to write any more novels. I don’t want to end up being one of these angry, bitter writers moaning that only three people are reading him. I don’t want that. – Jim Crace
You stand beneath the arthritic boughs of any English oak, and you survey a thousand tales. – Jim Crace
Even though my brother and I loved scrumping – we loved the act of climbing trees and grabbing fruit – there was always fear we would be caught. We feared we’d be imprisoned, sent to Australia. – Jim Crace
I have, I must admit, despised the English countryside for much of my life – despised it and avoided it for its want of danger and adventure. – Jim Crace
All the uncontrollable and unpredictable parts of my life – from the actual creation to my emotional responses to the finished book – I’ve succeeded in banishing to the office. And I think I’m happier for it. – Jim Crace
I’d dearly love to write a political book that changed the hearts and minds of men and women. – Jim Crace