John McGahern Reading Quotations

I read all the time. I was reading a book I admire very much by Alice McDermot called Charming Billy.

I think technique can be taught but I think the only way to learn to write is to read, and I see writing and reading as completely related. One almost couldn't exist without the other.

When I start to write, words have become physical presence. It was to see if I could bring that private world to life that found its first expression through reading. I really dislike the romantic notion of the artist.