Between 9am and 3pm is when I work most intensely.
Carol Ann Duffy

Christmas is taken very seriously in this household. I believe in Father Christmas, and there's no way I'd do anything to undermine that belief.
Carol Ann Duffy

Edinburgh is my favourite city. We'll be doing a lot of children's theatre and galleries.
Carol Ann Duffy

Every day is a gift with a child, no matter what problems you have.
Carol Ann Duffy

I still read Donne, particularly his love poems.
Carol Ann Duffy

I think the dangers are different now. Our abuse of the planet and our resources is an anxiety.
Carol Ann Duffy

I write in that space between Ella's childhood and mine. I know it all sounds a bit sinister.
Carol Ann Duffy

I write quite a lot of sonnets, and I think of them almost as prayers: short and memorable, something you can recite.
Carol Ann Duffy

I'll be left writing picture books and fairy tales.
Carol Ann Duffy

It's always good when women win things in fiction because it tends to be more male-dominated, unlike poetry, which is more equal.
Carol Ann Duffy


Like the sand and the oyster, it's a creative irritant. In each poem, I'm trying to reveal a truth, so it can't have a fictional beginning.
Carol Ann Duffy

My prose is turgid, it just hasn't got any energy.
Carol Ann Duffy

Poetry and prayer are very similar.
Carol Ann Duffy

Poets deal in writing about feelings and trying to find the language and images for intense feelings.
Carol Ann Duffy

When you have a child, your previous life seems like someone else's. It's like living in a house and suddenly finding a room you didn't know was there, full of treasure and light.
Carol Ann Duffy