Q and A with novelist Pat McCabe

Have you ever thought directors would prefer if you were not looking over their shoulder while they are making movies?
Definitely

Ever thought of making the movies of your books yourself?
No. Couldn't direct traffic

What draws you to the theatre?
Working with a good director

Are you getting closer to the ‘dark side' with time, as your latest novel Winterwood would suggest?
Can't say for sure. Seems that way

Is your children's childhood very different from yours?
Very

Do you get out of the house more these days?
No. I'm in the shed

How much time do you spend writing per week?
45 - 50 hours

Do you still play the country and western keyboards?
Only at parties

What difference if any is there between screenplay and novel writing?
The Grand Canyon

Why do you read at so many literary festivals?
I don't. I've only done a couple this year

Your musical references are largely from your youth. Do you listen to new music?
I don't listen to much new music. I like Larry Cunningham

Do you heed reviews?
I remember every name, every glib dismissal and every adolescent hatchet job

You have had two Booker Prize nominations. Is it an aim of yours to win one?
Couldn't care less

Why did you organise the Flat Lake Festival in Monaghan?
Fed up with teenagers littering the street at 3am like ravaged debris and not valuing themselves and their importance enough

Was Shane McGowan really there giving singing lessons from a platform of freshly cut hay?
I don't know. I was playing Larry Cunningham

Which of these three  characters do you see most of yourself in – Patsy Brady The Butcher Boy, Malachy Dudgeon of the Dead School or Patrick ‘Pussy' Brady of Breakfast on Pluto?  
All of them and none of them

Given your love of comics, what do you think of the increasing respect that graphic novels are receiving in the literary world?
Delighted