What is your favourite film?

The Madness of King George. Nigel Hawthorne playing George III recovering from his madness while acting King Lear never fails to reduce me to tears, and great joy.

And your favourite book?

The Oliver Lawson Dick edition of John Aubrey’s Brief Lives. And the ten-volume unabridged version of Samuel Pepys’s Diaries. I can’t choose between them.

Name the three people you would most like to dine with.

Willem Ybrantz Bontekoe (he saw the Dodo), the Tasmanian Aboriginal Wooreddy (Truganinni’s husband – I’d like to learn his language), and Julius Caesar (how far was he intending to move towards a democracy?).

Which word do you most dislike, and which would you like to see back in public usage?

I’ve come to hate ‘entitlements’, especially when used in a political context. I love ‘Simple’ as used by Chaucer – ‘free from duplicity, upright’.

Who is your favourite author?

Shakespeare. His talent is beyond compare.

And your favourite literary hero and heroine?

Literary heroes are never as interesting as literary villains. Gulliver has to be up there, as does Shakespeare’s Cleopatra.

Name an early literary idol or influence whom you no longer admire – or vice versa.

I find it hard to credit that I once viewed Plato as a philosophical giant who could do no wrong.

What, if anything, impedes your writing?

A steady and monotonously fortunate life, leading to a lack of anything to say.

How do you regard publishers?

The best of them are collaborators in the creative process. The worst are capricious or interested only in making money.

What do you think of the state of criticism?

It seems to have all but died in this country. Criticism requires a skilful editorial eye, and time on behalf of the critic. Buying time requires money. If you look at the New York Review of Books, you will see the difference between a thoughtful 4,000-word engagement with a book, and an 800-word ramble. But who in Australia, except the author, would read 4,000 words on a new novel today?

If you had your time over again, would you choose to be a writer?

Yes. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to think clearly.

What do you think of writers’ festivals?

The regional ones are the best.

Do you feel artists are valued in our society?

Were they ever valued, anywhere at any time? We are what we are.

What are you working on now?

I’ve just finished my ‘big book’ on climate change. I’ll read for a while before diving in again.