One minute with: Meg Rosoff, novelist

Where are you now and what can you see?

I'm sitting in a little blue house overlooking the shingle beach and sea in East Anglia. The sun is actually shining and I can see my two lurchers asleep under a tree in the garden... There's nowhere in the world I'd rather be.

What are you currently reading?

I'm nearly finished with Andrew Miller's Oxygen and am about to start Edward St Aubyn's first Patrick Melrose novel.

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

Hilary Mantel. She's a masterful writer, a brilliant stylist, a genius at creating character, story and historical sweep.

Describe the room where you usually write

A tiny office overlooking a quiet cul de sac in Highbury. It's painted a shade of yellow that Farrow and Ball call Hound, which is appropriate, as my hounds sleep under my desk while I write.

Which fictional character most resembles you?

I identify strongly with The Cat in the Hat.

Who is your hero/heroine from outide literature?

Barack Obama – an honest, deeply moral leader who believes in positive social change in a divided, angry country.

Meg Rosoff's new novel is 'Picture Me Gone' (Penguin)