Matt Haig

quite problematic teenagers who were in teenage gangs and different things but at the same time they had this sensitive side to them they liked Robert Frost poems they liked sunsets they appreciated art and music I thought oh this might be me a little bit you know not perfect in lots of ways but had this sensitive side so that was the book and S.E.

Hinton herself was I think 19 years old when she wrote that did you have a teacher who took a particular interest in you

Mrs. Kurzweil, my English teacher, was a very good teacher, and she encouraged me to write creatively.

And she was one of those who wasn't so bothered about your academic performance, but just had a passion for books and the subject.

A lot of my characters are either Mrs. Kurzweil or my nan as a sort of hybrid, with a little bit of my mum in them sometimes.

So between my nan and Mrs. Kurzweil, there's been a lot of fictionalised versions.

Did you have a girlfriend when you were at school?

Well, at the age of 11, I wasn't particularly successful with girls as a teenager.

But at the age of 11, I had a sort of girlfriend with a capital F friend called Ruth for six months.

We called each other boyfriend and girlfriend.

That basically meant we just occasionally held hands at school.

And also we went to see Santa Claus the movie together.

Who's that?

Dudley Moore, I think.

That's a proper relationship.

And you're holding hands for six months and going to Santa Claus the night.

That's a proper date.

Yeah, exactly.

But I remember when we broke up, neither of us were particularly sad about it.

I think I had something like five years of wilderness and then 16 I had a girlfriend for three weeks and I was a terrible boyfriend because I think I broke up with her by letter.