Literary Birthday – 21 July – Sarah Waters

Happy Birthday, Sarah Waters, born 21 July 1966.

Quotes

1. I knew I’d always be a second-rate academic, and I thought, Well, Id rather be a second-rate novelist or even a third-rate one.
2. Why do gentlemen’s voices carry so clearly, when women’s are so easily stifled?
3. Respect your characters, even the ­minor ones. In art, as in life, everyone is the hero of their own particular story; it is worth thinking about what your minor characters‘ stories are, even though they may intersect only slightly with your protagonist‘s.
4. Why is it we can never love the people we ought to?
5. I never expected my books to do even as well as they have. I still feel grateful for it, every single day.
6. I’ve given up reading the papers. Since the world’s so obviously bent on killing itself, I decided months ago to sit back and let it.

Sarah Waters is an award-winning Welsh novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society and featuring lesbian protagonists, such as Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.

1. Sarah Waters’ 10 Rules For Writers
2. Sarah Waters’ Top 10 Books

Source for Advice

Source for photo: Via publishers. Photo credit: Charlie Hopkinson

by Amanda Patterson

Please click here for our Literary Birthday Calendar