It’s not fair. People claim to know you through the things you’ve done, and not by sitting down and listening to you speak for yourself. Hannah Kent More Quotes by Hannah Kent More Quotes From Hannah Kent ...dreadful birds, dressed in red with breasts of silver buttons, and cocked heads and sharp mouths, looking for guilt like berries on a bush. Hannah Kent buttons guilt bird I have made a mistake. They condemn me to death and I ask for a boy to coach me for it. A red-headed boy, who gobbles his buttered bread and toddles to his horse with the seat of his pants wet, this is the young man they hope will get me on my knees, full of prayer. This is the young man I hope will be able to help me, although with what and how I cannot think. Hannah Kent horse prayer mistake The treachery of a friend is worse than that of a foe. Hannah Kent foe treachery You know you're going to have a good day when your morning begins with breakfast in the same room as Carrie Tiffany, David Vann and Lionel Shriver. Hannah Kent day good you morning I still don't know why, exactly, but I do think people can have a spiritual connection to landscape, and I certainly did in Iceland. Hannah Kent think know spiritual people I had expected that at some point during the first draft a light would go on, and I would understand, finally, how to write a book. This never happened. The process was akin to blindly walking in the dark, feeling my way only by touch, and only recognising dead ends when I smacked into them. Hannah Kent feeling light dark walking When I write, I write for myself, and I have high expectations... so I'm just trying to meet those. I'm not going to distract myself with other people's expectations. Hannah Kent meet myself expectations people The mystery at the center of 'Burial Rites' is not who killed whom on the night of March 13, 1828. It is the mystery each of us encounters: Can we every truly know another? Can we ever truly know ourselves? Hannah Kent us know mystery night I applied for funding to embark on an overseas field trip in Iceland, and spent six weeks there happily holed up in the national archives, museums and libraries, sifting through ministerial and parish records, censuses, maps, microfilm, logs, and local histories. Hannah Kent through up iceland museums I really hate the term 'historical novel' - it reminds me of bodice-rippers. But I'm hooked on research, and I really, really enjoy it. Hannah Kent me enjoy hate research I used to have 20/20 vision, believe it or not; that's gone because of all the reading I did when I wasn't supposed to, reading in the back of a car, waiting for each street light to go past so I could grab another sentence. Hannah Kent car vision light waiting My dad would tell me bedtime stories, and he used to always leave them open-ended and finish at a crucial point with the words, 'dream on'. Then it was my responsibility to finish the story as I was drifting off to sleep. We would call them dreaming stories. Hannah Kent words me responsibility sleep I don't like to pretend I was guided in any way by the supernatural world, but the more you talk about that, the easier it is to dismiss those notions. Hannah Kent pretend you way world I was a very imaginative child, and my parents were very encouraging of that. My sister and I would put on plays; I would write my own stories. Hannah Kent parents child sister my-own I had an interest in Scandinavian countries because I'd never seen snow. Hannah Kent seen because never snow Most writers are drawn to what is unknown, rather than what is clear in any tale. Hannah Kent unknown than rather clear There are secrets at the heart of every story; there is something that must be uncovered or discovered, both by the reader and by the characters. Hannah Kent secrets something story heart I always knew I wanted to be a writer. I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do as a money-making job. Hannah Kent sure job just always
