David Mitchell

David Mitchell was born in Southport, England, in 1969, and lived in Japan when he wrote his novels Ghostwritten (1999) and Number9Dream (2001), both of which owe something to the writings of Murakami. His most recent novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (2010), is set in Japan during the Edo period.

Today, Mitchell, his wife, and their two children live in Ireland. Being a parent, he says, can be a disruption to his daily writing life, but it more than makes up for it in the privilege of being able to witness the formation of a personality. "What a useful phenomenon for any novelist," he said in an interview. "We are shameless parasites."

Mitchell said: "Everything you need to learn about writing you will learn, and can only learn, by writing. So get rid of the TV and work. And when you're stuck, write why you're stuck, with merciless honesty, and you will become unstuck."

source: Writers Almanac