TIBOR FISCHER

It's what the reader thinks that counts.

Some years ago, I fired my agent, Andrew Wylie, alias The Jackal. I want to stress this wasn't an amicable parting of the ways or a hankering on my part for fresh representation. I fired him because his agency wasn't doing enough for me.

I never could get a proper job.

Usually, when you make a decision in life, unless you have access to parallel universes, you can't truly judge how right that decision was.

I went to a British Council event a while back and there were lots of German professors of literature. About half of them were convinced I had a German sense of humour and the other half were sure it was British. They are probably still arguing about it now.

A public role endures for the literary high-command, as sages and seers, speaking out on social and political issues.

I don't take much notice of reviews now - obviously you'd like to have straight worship but you're never going to get that.

Criticism is part of being in the marketplace. If you can't take a bit of criticism, you shouldn't bother publishing a book.

Outside their country, Hungarian directors have had, from the critics at least, a friendly reception.

Ultimately, it's about the quality of the writing whatever style you are writing.

Travelling is difficult, and writers tend to want to stay at home and do their work.

It's true, some senior Hungarian writers are not known for their laughter. There is a strong Germanic influence - an attitude that if it's enjoyable it can't possibly be literature.

The way British publishing works is that you go from not being published no matter how good you are, to being published no matter how bad you are.

New York City has fantastic restaurants and, unlike London, a lot of the best restaurants are relatively cheap.

No one wants a masterpiece knocking around when your own book is looking for attention.

There's prejudice and poverty in Hungary as there is in every country.

One of my proudest achievements is that when an authoritative book about Hungarian literature came out about a decade ago, there was a little article about me which said I was a Hungarian writer but pretending not to be. Bearing in mind I can hardly write a cheque in Hungarian, I was delighted to be included in the pantheon of Hungarian writers.

You can't really win as a Booker judge. If you choose the obvious names, the unit-shifters, you're accused of being timid and unimaginative; if you choose the unfamous, you're labelled willful and perverse.

As an author, I realise, you're on your own. You have to do everything you can to help The Book. If I make sure people know it's out there, they can make up their own minds whether they want to read it.

Most Hungarians know what it was to live in a dictatorship; some are old enough to have known both fascism and communism. No one wants to go back to that.

Most books reviews aren't very well-written. They tend to be more about the reviewer than the book.

When I think of Hungarian films, I think of despair and bleakness, and what's more, despair and bleakness of indefensible duration.

One of the reasons why I don't write the same kind of book again and again is that I get bored very easily, so I like to make things interesting for myself.

Because my name is Hungarian, everyone assumed I knew about Hungary. I didn't. They also assumed that if you knew about Hungary, you also knew about the rest of Eastern Europe.

Miami, in many ways, is a quintessentially American city. The juxtaposition of showy wealth with dire pennilessness, the tussle of glitz and decay doesn't come any more marked than here.