SOURCE: Kennedy, A. L., and Yvonne Nolan. “A Dream Not Her Own.” Publishers Weekly 248, no. 30 (23 July 2001): 43, 46.

In the following interview, Kennedy discusses her writing career, her love of the theatre, the meaninglessness of literary prizes, and the perils of the writing profession.

The taxi driver says that the West End of Glasgow is where people with money live. It's the gracious-living part of Glasgow. You'll find the University there, the glass domes of the Botanic Gardens, restaurants where the Parmesan comes in shavings, not powder. Graceful, sun-dappled Victorian terraces hewn from Scottish sandstone line the tree-shaded streets. It's a world away from architecturally tricksy, arty, revisionist, haute Glasgow, and it's also a quiet reserved, retreat from working-class, vernacular Glasgow.

Three years ago, at the intersection of at least two of these worlds, sat Alison Kennedy. She dangled her bare feet from her cramped roof window, the golden sandstone...