One Minute With: Louise Welsh, novelist

Where are you now and what can you see?

 I'm in my sitting room and I can see a very grey sky through the window and a lot of tall trees. Peeking out behind them is a high block of flats in Maryhill, Glasgow.

What are you currently reading?

Jennifer Egan's first novel, 'The Invisible Circus'. I'm reading it entirely for pleasure with no other agenda, although you always have a bit of a jealous writer's eye. It's about obsession and a girl whose sister has died, but also about much more than that.

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

Robert Louis Stevenson because I read him before I could read him – his work was read to me as a child and I'm still going back to him.

Describe the room where you usually write

From my desk I can only see the sky, so I see the occasional seagull going by. There is a bookcase, a couch and a big damp patch.

Which fictional character most resembles you?

Winnie the Pooh – this simple bear trying to go through life.

Who is your hero/heroine from outside literature?

At the moment, Frederick Douglass, who was born into slavery, escaped it, and became a major abolitionist.

Louise Welsh's novel, 'The Girl on the Stairs', is published by John Murray