One minute with: Evie Wyld, novelist

Where are you now and what can you see?

I'm behind the counter of the bookshop I run in Peckham. It's Friday evening and I can see people smoking outside the pub opposite. There's a young man outside leaning his forehead against the glass while he waits for his bus.

What are you currently reading?

I'm reading a proof – Young Skins by Colin Barrett. Really fantastic short stories from an Irish writer. Very dark, very human, and violent.

Choose a favourite author and say why you admire her/him

Tim Winton. Again it's the humanity – no one's ever good or bad. And he's so funny. I get the feeling that he is a good, good man.

Describe the room where you usually write?

It's a room we haven't unpacked yet – unpainted walls, moving boxes full of books, a spare duvet and a sleeping bag I can't be bothered to stuff back into its bag. I work on an old desk I bought for a pound and it's not altogether comfortable. There is a window which is a little bit high up to look out of. I face a white wall.

Which fictional character most resembles you?

Russell Hoban's The Sea-Thing Child [from the eponymous novel].

Who is your hero/heroine from outside literature?

Rodney Fox, the man who survived being disembowelled by a great white shark and now runs expeditions to promote shark conservation.

Evie Wyld's 'All the Birds, Singing' (Jonathan Cape), is shortlisted for the 2013 Costa Novel Award