Maggie O'Farrell
Irish-British novelist
To keep going and never give up, and to enjoy it to the absolute full because, at any moment, the curtain can fall.
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two fully readable publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Be kind and do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 June 2024 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 137 →To be led by love and not judgment.
Your lowest moment is temporary.
The best way to spend time is to waste it.
More from Clive Myrie
View profile →Whenever I’m with my wife and I’m not preoccupied with work.
Coming under attack while reporting in Iraq.
Surviving this world.
The usual racist shit.
A tennis player.
As a decent bloke.
More on time & hindsight
- When were you happiest? 577 answers
- What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore? 77 answers
- What scares you about getting older? 61 answers
- What is the best advice you have ever received? 28 answers
- If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere, what would it say and why? 23 answers
- What is something you were told by a parent, teacher, or mentor that you still repeat to yourself? 22 answers
Also answered this · A–Z
Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Caroline Lucas, Desmond Tutu, Edmund Hillary, George H. W. Bush
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- All time & hindsight questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
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