"A writer's life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity. We don't have to weep about that. The writer makes his choice and is stuck with it. But it is true to say that you are open to all the winds, some of them icy indeed. You are out on your own, out on a limb. You find no shelter, no protection - unless you lie - in which case of course you have constructed your own protection and, it could be argued, become a politician."

You may also like:

• 

  Antonia Fraser
  Author

• 

  David Mamet
  Playwright

• 

  Dirk Bogarde
  Actor

• 

  Doris Lessing
  Novelist

• 

  Elfriede Jelinek
  Playwright

• 

  Samuel Beckett
  Novelist

• 

  Tom Stoppard
  Playwright

• 

  William Shakespeare
  Poet

• 

  Joseph Losey
  Film director