One Minute With: Denise Mina
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Where are you now and what can you see?
I am standing in my bathroom and I'm looking at the mess in my bedroom.
What are you currently reading?
I'm finishing Rubicon, a book about the Roman Republic, and just finished Occupied City by David Peace.
Choose a favourite author and say why you like her/him
I love Mikhail Bulgakov. He is very original and takes the story to unexpected places. I didn't realise political writing could be so funny.
Describe the room where you usually write
It basically started off as a beautiful study and slowly became a box room. It is 30 sq metres stacked with paper where I used to have 30 sq metres of space, and a leather armchair.
What distracts you from writing?
Childcare. I have two children. They are more fun than anything in the world, and it's more immediate fun than the hard slog of writing.
Which fictional character most resembles you?
Probably the dog in (Bulgakov's) Heart of a Dog, and what happens when a woman, and working class people, get access to education.
What are your readers like when you meeT them?
Amazing. I thought they'd be slightly shambolic people like me but they are often 80-year-old women or women in positions of power. I have an intense relationship with some of them.
Who is your hero from outside literature?
Probably my great aunt Kate. She was totally self-educated and highly opinionated. She always dressed flamboyantly and married a passive man. She was intensely political, and all her children went to university.
Denise Mina's novel, 'Still Midnight', is published by Orion.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments