Literature

Walk the line: Maggie O’Farrell on rolling with the punches and letting inspiration in

The prize-winning Hamnet author returns with The Marriage Portrait, her new novel

Maggie O’Farrell: “I’m not really much of a planner in life or in fiction” Picture: Murdo Macleod

I always wanted to write. Even when I was a very little girl, the urge was in me and I’ve always been a bit of a stationery addict. There’s always been that urge to fill notebooks with ramblings and stories and things.

I did also want to be a poet for a while, so I went to poetry classes with Michael Donaghy, the Irish-American poet. He was an absolutely brilliant teacher but I wasn't a very ...