Interviewed at the Hay-on-Wye Festival by the Guardian:
... he felt that modern British authors could punch their weight. Singling out Ian McEwan's bestselling novel Atonement, he said: "I thought it was a staggering book — something no American could have published. I have read almost every book by Muriel Spark. She is a marvellous writer. Iris Murdoch I am a great admirer of. I recall she was very harshly treated by the critics for some of her books". Among ethnic minority writers, he mentioned Hanif Kureishi's The Body — "a short novel which I read with admiration".
