One Minute With: Tim Lott, novelist

Novelist Tim Lott ( Jamie Turner)

Where are you now and what can you see?

I’m in my office in North Kensington and I can see a builder’s hairy butt.

What are you currently reading?

‘Why The World Doesn’t Seem To Make Any Sense’ by Steve Hagen. The world has never really made any sense to me and it’s just nice to read a book that acknowledges that it’s not only me but the world itself.

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

George Orwell, because he was a truth teller.

Describe the room where you usually write

Someone else’s bedroom. Rumour has it I might have a shelf of my own soon.

Which fictional character most resembles you?

Salinger Nash in ‘Under the Same Stars’ He’s depressive and cynical at one level, but optimistic and hopeful at another. And he wants someone, somewhere, to say ‘sorry’ to him.

Who is your hero/heroine from outside literature?

The Philosophical Entertainer, Alan Watts, who popularised Eastern philosophy in the West. I’m writing a book about him called ‘Everything is Happening’. He changed the way I saw the world.

Tim Lott’s sixth novel, ‘Under the Same Stars’ is published in paper-back by Simon & Schuster