One Minute With: Cerys Matthews, musician/writer

Where are you now and what can you see?

I'm at the BBC Media Centre in Salford, looking out over huge glass blocks.

What are you currently reading?

Inspirational Leadership: timeless lessons for leaders from Shakespeare's Henry V by Richard Olivier. We don't change much. Let the dramatists be the politicians! Or, better still, the mothers…

Choose a favourite author and say why you admire her/ him

I have two at the moment. First, Andrew Marr. His History of the World has blown my world wide open... And Ian Fleming, for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It's a book that every child and adult should read.

Describe the room where you usually write

It's about ten foot by six, covered head-to-toe in music - CDs and books. There's a big slab of maple wood, where I work.

Which fictional character most resembles you?

[Astrid Lindgren's] Pippi Longstocking. She always questions everybody, no matter what their standing in society. She struck a big chord with me.

Who is your hero/ heroine from outside music?

Jeff Towns, who tirelessly... has become a curator for Dylan Thomas's legacy.

'Hook, Line and Singer' by Cerys Matthews is published by Penguin; she is a judge for the Dylan Thomas Prize