Remmelt de Haan

We all have a song we sing to ourselves. I’m a good person. I have it together. My kids know I love them. People look up to me. We curate that song. We choose what goes in it and — like any good musician — what to leave out. There is a quote, attributed to a host of people, from Miles Davis to Mozart. “It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play.” It is about restraint. The graceful silence. The unplayed notes that make the song better. Miles Davis was a master at this.

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In a previous life, I studied English language and literature. From my time at uni, I took away two things. My most valuable lesson I got from one of my professors. The details have blurred over thirty-five years — I think I’d shown him an early piece of fiction, or perhaps asked if he’d want to look it over once it was done — but I remember his reply with total clarity. In that very dry, very British way, he told me that non-native speakers of English had no business writing English fiction.