Douglas Stewart

because it's at the end of a two-mile road and, you know, you need a real intent and purpose to leave it, is also a village.

And so, yeah, islands, whether they're emotional or geographical, have always been my fascination.

Really?

That's how tough it is, yeah.

Why not?

Oh, well, I think a writer's always confronted with the things they wish they'd done.

When I spoke about my past in fashion, you're always continuously improving.

And I think a book is finished when it's finished.

And because you cannot go back, you know, I would often I love what Zadie Smith says.

She says the best time to edit a book is 20 minutes before you go on stage, because when you open your book that you finished maybe two years before and you read it again, you think, oh, wow, I would really rewrite a lot of this.

And I think that's very true.

You know, it's an artefact of the past and mostly of a past you.

It is, it is.

It's also a portrait of a very good man, and it's a portrait of a man with a deep abiding faith.

And sometimes when we write about people of faith in literature, they are there for the darkness or for the hidden secrets in their nature.

And what I love about Gilead is it's both a wonderful person and a great father and also someone who believes very deeply in God.

it's one of my favorite books of all time and marilyn robinson is a phenomenal writer i love housekeeping it's it's it's taught me how to be a writer that's our first novel yeah it's taught me to be a great writer but yes it's the story of a protestant pastor the reverend john ames and he's writing to his seven-year-old son because he's reaching the end of his life you know the pastor is dying and the letter is intended to be read when his son reaches adulthood and i chose this because it's the richest interiority of a man of faith that i have ever read

uh i like the you know the deep humanity of the novel both the goodness and the depth of faith and and it was inspiring to me when i was writing the character of the father john um you know i loved first of all the depiction of aging and and the gentle resentment of youth as well you know because john ames sorry they're both called john which is maybe a little confusing but john ames john and john and john and john yeah it's a very common name which which i

chose because it's an every man's name.

It's an every man's name.