Salley Vickers spent much of her life as a psychoanalyst (she was 52 when she published her first novel), and her parents were atheist communists. These elements of her background inform her choice of literary themes – particularly the ways in which people can be opaque to each other and are often deeply afraid of being loved, and the myriad of ways in which the living and the dead interact. Vickers embraces risks, suggesting that it’s easier to do so when you write a character of the opposite sex (though denied that she’s a ‘sub-fusc feminist’). The most difficult part of being a novelist, she admitted, is having to stop writing and say goodbye to your characters.

RBS Main Theatre, 14 Aug, 4.30pm (5.30pm), £8.00 – £10.00, bfpp10.
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