Of readers’ inquiries about the relationship between autobiography and invention in his work, Kureishi said: “It’s such a dull question. And then people always want to know what time you get up, or whether you write with the window closed, or what your desk looks like.”

My man Hanif Kureishi cuts through the crap at the Guardian Hay Festival.

People often write to ask me about creative writing courses. In the future, I think, I’m just going to quote Hanif: “The writing courses, particularly when they have the word ‘creative’ in them, are the new mental hospitals. But the people are very nice.”