Matt Haig
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Yeah, at the start I thought, maybe I'm just writing that.
Maybe I'm just writing the world's most depressing book.
Within what we've given.
Yeah, exactly.
I think so.
And I feel like the internet flattens context, doesn't it?
And books can give that back.
You can actually see... You can sympathise in a novel with a character doing a bad or stupid thing.
So novels are where we can reclaim a bit of empathy and compassion, perhaps.
I think, you know, I know one of my first memories was definitely falling into a patch of stinging nettles in our back garden when we lived in North Nottinghamshire in a village called Ramby.
It wasn't a picturesque village particularly because we had the A1 just literally beyond our hedge.
And my nan had been looking after me.
My parents were out.
And I fell into a patch of stinging nettles.
And the thing about stinging nettles and being a toddler is if you're trying to get out of the stinging nettles, you're making the situation worse because you're getting stung in your effort to escape.
So I think that was certainly my first unhappy memory.
But it may also be tied to a slightly happier one.
Because my favourite thing to do in the garden, when my nan or my mum was out, like hanging, washing on the line, they would have a little yellow plastic wash basket.
And I used to occupy myself by throwing it in the air and trying to catch it on my head.