by Thomas Korsgaard, as told to Karoline Markholst.

“It’s so meaningful when something you’ve spent such a long time on is able to touch others. I’m truly grateful for these moments. There is one particular encounter that stands out for me, as it taught me a valuable lesson about reading itself.

I was in a bar and a reader came up to me, wobbling over to my table, quite drunk. ‘I HAVE READ YOUR NEW BOOK,’ he shouted, ‘AND YOU’RE SO UNLIKEABLE.’

It was all he could say. Over and over. You’re so unlikeable.

It was an uncomfortable experience – chilling in a way – but it also helped me to understand something about the power of literature. Clearly, he’d been deeply moved by the book. It was YOU HAD TO BE THERE, where the main character does a lot of questionable things, but the man had read it as an autobiography.

While it's no secret that I often draw from my own life in my books, they are all works of fiction.

The interesting thing in this situation was that, instead of examining why he felt such strong aversion to the book and using those insights constructively in his own life, he had directed his anger at me, the author.

I felt exposed, and I questioned whether it was all worth it. Or whether I should start writing books about protagonists who were kind, funny and virtuous – the kind of characters all readers would fall in love with – so I’d be receiving marriage proposals instead of ‘YOU’RE SO UNLIKEABLE’. But that’s not why I write. It wouldn’t be interesting.

I write to get closer to humans. To all that is problematic and difficult and uncomfortable about us and our lives.

Whenever I read something that provokes strong feelings within me, I make a point to ask myself what’s going on, why am I getting angry, annoyed, quiet?

Literature holds a treasure trove of insights for those who are willing to engage with it.”