Latitude 2013: Five minutes with... Don Paterson

Dundonian poet Don Paterson graces this year's Latitude with his odes.

Which latitude are you on right now?

Edinburgh. Bruntsfield. Near the links. In the chocolate / bicycle / pot triangle. 

Sum up what you do for us in one sentence for anyone who might not know…

My card reads 'Surfaces'

If you could give us one hot tip for who to see at Latitude what would it be?

James Blake, Mum, Cocorosie, Dylan Moran? That's four...

Do you have any pre-show rituals?

Drinking. Usually extends to an in-show ritual

What’s your best festival story for us? The stranger the better!

Twenty years ago I did the worst-attended reading ever in Aberdeen. The audience consisted of one couple in their seventies. After two poems the guy leant forward and said 'This isn't the chrysanthemum and dahlia society, is it.'

Tell us a something you’ve never told an interviewer before…

I just did...

What’s your signature cooking dish?

An inedibly rich risotto 

What book/film/record etc. changed your life and why?

Robert Wyatt, Rock Bottom, when I was 14. Because it taught me what was meant by properly articulated feeling. 

Knock Knock, who’s there?

You seem to be doing fine with that yourself... keep going...

What’s the best thing about performing live?

I can't be cynical here. Making an emotional connection with people.

And lastly, summarise Latitude in three words

'That's a toughie'