Sarah Kanowski

And did they talk about that?

It seems when you describe it like that, Colin, almost inevitable that you would become a novelist, that form that lets you be inside people's head and see that contrast between what they're thinking, what they know and what they say out loud to other people.

You were fourth in the family and you and number five were sent off to the country when you were eight or so.

Did you know why?

You'd only just learned to read at that point.

And you used to read the newspaper.

You and your brother, little brother, both there in a kind of exile.

Did it make a close bond between the two of you at that time?

Even as adults?

When you were brought back to the family home in a school where your dad was in sort of convalescing for a period, what was different about you, Colm?

How had you changed?

How did that show up in the way you communicated?

A clutter?

Your dad never fully recovered his health and he died when you were just 12, Colin.

What was the atmosphere like at home after that?

How do you remember it?

Did you inherit that skill?

You fell in love with poetry as a 12, 13-year-old.

Was it something about the way language is used in poetry that was seductive for someone with a speech impediment?

I'm just thinking, was it stuff that you'd read out loud, the first poets you fell in love with, or what was it?