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Caryl Phillips
Caryl Phillips: ‘Native Son by Richard Wright opened up the world for me as it legitimised me wanting to write.’ Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images
Caryl Phillips: ‘Native Son by Richard Wright opened up the world for me as it legitimised me wanting to write.’ Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images

Caryl Phillips: ‘The Famous Five were always having a better time than me’

This article is more than 4 years old

The novelist and playwright on why he keeps a photo of Anne Frank above his desk and championing Jean Rhys

The book I am currently reading
Another Day of Life by Ryszard Kapuściński. His work is fiction that sometimes reads like non-fiction and it’s non-fiction that sometimes reads like fiction.

The book that changed my life
Native Son by Richard Wright. I read it when I was 20. Nobody had ever given me a book written by anyone who looked like me. Some part of me didn’t think it was legitimate to think of myself as a writer. It’s not the best book I’ve ever read. It’s not my favourite. But it’s the old saying: “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” And I saw it for the first time that this was possible.

The book I wish I’d written
Somebody’s Husband, Somebody’s Son by Gordon Burn.

The book that had the greatest influence on me
I’ve always worked with a picture above my desk of Anne Frank. It’s been there since I started writing and will always be. She was a writer who never got the chance to become one. If you’ve got something to say and the opportunity to say it, there’s a responsibility. It reminds you that some people didn’t get the chance because they didn’t live long enough.

The last book that made me cry
Reading Turgenev by William Trevor. I don’t cry at the end of it but I feel rearranged. The only other piece of literature that does that to me is when I see a production of Hedda Gabler. I always find myself just sitting there feeling completely overwhelmed.

The last book that made me laugh
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain – a nice combination of slapdash silent comedy and verbal, dexterous wit.

Neville Brand, left, and Eddie Hodges in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960). Photograph: Moviestore Collection / Rex Feat

The book I couldn’t finish
There are loads. I don’t really believe in finishing books that are boring you. Life’s too short. Those who claim virtue in actually getting to the end of it probably think they’re going to live for ever. I walk out of movies too. Why am I going to sit in the dark for two hours?

The book I give as a gift
James Baldwin’s The Price of the Ticket.

The book I’d most like to be remembered for
The one I’m working on now. Except I’m not really working on it.

My earliest reading memory
The Famous Five books by Enid Blyton. Those kids were always having a better time than me – the food, the adventures, the freedom. I’m sure most kids who were reading those books were reading the mythical childhood that they didn’t have.

My comfort read
When I want to not think too much, I tend to read magazines or newspapers.

The book that is most underrated or overrated
There are so many books that are massively overrated. In terms of underrated, Jean Rhys’s Voyage in the Dark. It’s the kind of book you want to stand up and applaud.

A View of the Empire at Sunset by Caryl Phillips is published by Vintage (£8.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £15, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99.

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