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Should my books stay white for the rest of my life?

7 September 2020

‘The majority of my books are set in north London, and it began to seem like an omission or a lie that when I open my door I'm in a multiracial neighbourhood, yet I haven't written about that. Should my books stay white for the rest of my life? I don't think so. That's all I can say, I wanted the book to represent my city...

You write yourself out the further you go. The women thing started like that. I came to believe that women had more problems than white me, and white men's problems are mostly internal. That's certainly the case with High Fidelity and About a Boy. I tried to do the best I could with them, but there is something inert about that...

I'm thankful I'm not 30 years younger and having to make my way in the world...

My 17-year-old is supersmart and he's probably read about four books. But does it matter? Does it matter if you watch five seasons of The Wire as opposed to reading a so-so Booker novel? What are you not getting?...

I know why I read - because of the time I was brought up in. I was clinging to a lifeline and was never bored when I was reading. But my kids are never bored. Good luck to them.'

Nick Hornby, author of 21 books, including 7 novels, amongst them Just Like You, published next week, About a Boy, Fever Pitch and High Fidelity in the Sunday Times' Culture.

https://www.nickhornbyofficial.com/