CS Richardson
CS Richardson © David Mills
CS Richardson, the author of The End of the Alphabet on his favourite smell and other confessions.
1. When were you happiest?
The day I learned I had won a Commonwealth Prize for Best First Book.
2. What is your principal defect?
An obsessive compulsion to re-write.
3. What makes you depressed?
Not much. Disheartened now and then, but even that seems a fleeting condition.
4. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
From a long list: nose (size), smile (crooked).
5. What is your favourite word?
Grace.
6. What is your most unappealing habit?
Smoking.
7. What is your favourite smell?
Acqua di Palma.
8. What is your guiltiest pleasure?
The cinematic oeuvre of Richard Curtis.
9. Who are your favourite writers?
Alessandro Barrico, Alan Bennett, Italo Calvino, Jan Morris
10. What is the worst job you've done?
Emptying campsite trash bins.
11. When did you last cry, and why?
Don’t recall, but I choke up (regularly) at the end of A Very Long Engagement.
12. What do you most value in you friends?
Wisdom.
13. What gift would you most like to possess?
The ability to speak French, and/or play the piano.
14. What was your most embarrassing moment?
Vomiting outside a university pub.
15. What is your most treasured possession?
The international editions of my first novel.
16. What is the worst thing anyone's said to you?
You can’t, you shouldn’t, you won’t. No.
17. If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Delete my first marriage and start my second one much sooner.
18. If you could go back in time, where would you go?
Paris, 1900-1920
19. What is your greatest fear?
Apart from losing my family, not being able to write.
20. What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
That it’s too short, and there is much to do.
