"A writer now is born, goes to school, gets a degree, and then becomes a creative writing professor."

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/aug/30/dj-taylor-interview

DJ Taylor: 'I set out with every intention of just being a novelist. But then I got diverted …'

The author, biographer and critic talks to Nicholas Wroe about Norwich, the Booker prize and taking potshots at the literary establishment

• Nicholas Wroe
• The Guardian, Friday 30 August 2013
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His freelance career started well, with a commission to write a biography to mark the Orwell centenary. It won the 2003 Whitbread prize, and while he was "a little late for the real largesse that was swirling round the industry in the late 80s", he picked up one of the last large advances for a biography. "I do think there are historical, as well as commercial, reasons for advances dropping. This was the last generation that could be really written about biographically. Orwell, Waugh, Powell fought in wars. They travelled. They did things. There was so much to write about Graham Greene that Norman Sherry could fill three volumes. With all respect, what has Martin Amis actually done that merits a biography, as opposed to a critical study? And it's getting worse. A writer now is born, goes to school, gets a degree, and then becomes a creative writing professor."