Philip Kerr
Philip Kerr
Philip Kerris a British author...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth22 February 1956
authentic best deliver likely
The mark of a writer is to make a story as likely as possible, and I've done my best to deliver authentic atmosphere.
people politics sports
Sport seems to be much more important to people than politics.
breathing gives
I think the context of an hour-long drama gives breathing space that you don't get in a film.
john master writer
I think John le Carre is, at 77, the greatest living writer alive. He is a master craftsman.
films kubrick
I really wanted to write the way Kubrick makes films - 'Strangelove,' '2001', 'Clockwork Orange', 'Barry Lyndon' - they're all so different.
behave heroes
I don't really like heroes who always behave heroically. That's not interesting to me.
written
I always worry I've probably written one too many Bernie Gunther books and that I should probably give him his gold watch.
asks faced history ourselves period
History asks us to imagine ourselves in a period, but it's a very different situation when you're in that period and faced with those situations.
rely twisted whether
As a writer, you rely on whatever makes you up as a person, whether those things are twisted and nasty or otherwise.
defending official tired
After a while, you get tired of being the official Scot and defending everything Scottish.
absent desk facing life love pen putting quiet sitting stories ten
I love sitting at my desk and facing a quiet day with a pen in my hand, and putting myself into a story. It's kind of weird, isn't it? I mean, to absent myself from real life and make up stories is strange, but I started doing this when I was ten years old. It was all I wanted to do.
based born
All nationalism is based on racism and hate. I'm Scottish; I was born in Scotland, as my parents, as my grandparents.
characters encounter hardest
The hardest thing is to write about people. First and foremost, you have to encounter their humanity. That is the only way you can make them live as characters on the page.
history
I always try to find a story in the margins of history, but I don't like to do too much that's improbable.