What are you most looking forward to at the 2016 Festival? Seeing Dubai again, for the first time in 48 years. I gather it has changed quite a bit. When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? At the age of about six, when I started trying to write stories. What book do you find yourself re-reading most often?Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, for me two of the greatest books in the English language. If you weren’t a writer, what would you be? Quite possibly an actor. And finally, we have a number of aspiring writers attending the Festival. What one piece of advice would you give them? Never look for more than five minutes at a blank sheet of paper or computer screen. Start writing. You can always rewrite later (though you probably won’t).