Catherine Dunne
What's your earliest holiday memory?
Castlegregory, Co Kerry, at five years of age with my cousins in Mrs Kennedy's boarding house. That first evening at teatime my aunt and uncle spoke to a young English couple whose baby occupied a chair beside their table. In one of the many conversational pauses the baby farted. We children looked at each other, gleeful, afraid to giggle among all the white tablecloths. The baby's mother looked down at him and said, simply: "James! All those peas!" I thought it was the height of something I might later describe as sophistication.
What was your worst holiday?
This question reminds me of Mick Jagger when someone asked him about "bad sex". The only "bad holiday", I think, is no holiday at all. What might have been a disaster, but turned out otherwise, was a budget two-week stay in Turkey, some 13 years ago. Our hotel ran out of just about everything on a daily basis, and Basil, the owner, spread havoc whenever he moved - which wasn't all that frequently, admittedly. We suffered a moment of consternation one day on finding that the cocktail of the evening, loudly proclaimed in chalk on the hotel noticeboard, was "Sperm of Barman".
What was your best holiday?
See above! They have all been good in different ways. Even being broke is easier in the sun.
If budget or work was no restriction, what would be your dream holiday?
Without doubt, an extended stay in Central and South America. Travelling - rather than being a tourist - and living in Chile, Argentina, Brazil.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?
Dervla Murphy. She has insight and energy and travels fearlessly. I have always been a tourist, never a traveller - not in the real sense.
What book would you recommend to read on holiday?
The same books that I recommend to read when not on holiday. I don't understand the concept of "holiday reading", which implies that something you wouldn't touch can become hugely entertaining by a pool. I do like to save up longer books for longer holidays - time is hard to come by. Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters came with me last time. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood was another before that.
Where to next?
New York and Vermont with four writer friends - a mix of work and pleasure. New York, in particular, is a long-standing promise to myself. I can't wait.
Catherine Dunne is a novelist