Katie Kitamura

I pretty much admire anybody who has the discipline and the will to make a career out of fighting. It takes buckets of nerve.

As a writer, I think the greatest danger would be self-censorship.

There's something about being a woman and being able to dress up in men's clothing, so to speak.

There's a long relationship between science fiction and the 'novel of ideas,' and I think writers of science fiction are able to draw on that tradition to take risks, to constantly raise the level of their ambition.

From their breakout 2002 single, 'Losing My Edge,' LCD Soundsystem have offered a unique combination of geek knowledge, passion and intelligent, ironic distance.

I was introduced to fighting by my brother - he's a tattooer, a tough guy - and I completely fell in love with it. I was watching fights on YouTube all the time. I would go to parties to watch UFC fights.

I like a lot of Spanish language writers. I really love Javier Marias.

Losing My Edge' was an anthem for the aging music nerd, with lyrics detailing a comically epic list of historical dates, bands and attended gigs: the anti-hipster's defence against 'the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered Eighties.'

The idea of physical strain and discipline, the question of how and when you leave that life behind - they're things I'm familiar with on one level or another.

One thing about having children is that even as it complicates many aspects of your life, it simplifies others.

How do we describe the fact of human existence? At a certain point, perhaps, style fails us. Language, even and in particular at its most evocative, becomes less of an aid and more of a difficulty.

It's difficult to identify why two cultures will react differently to the same sport.