On the inspiration and research behind Room

"The idea for Room came from having two small children (at the time aged four and one) and sometimes feeling as if motherhood was a locked room. And also the Fritzl case in Austria.

I never speak to anyone during my research - I prefer to read as widely as I can. For Room I researched broadly: family theory, resilience, trauma/recovery, incarceration, refugees, international adoptions - anything that would help me figure out what life might be like for my lead characters. I was enormously grateful to all the scholars whose insights I drew on."

On adapting the book to screenplay

"The only risk with a novelist adapting their book to screen would be if a novelist was just doing it out of propriety, not a genuine love of cinema. I think whoever wants to try her hand at it, she should in. I say 'she' because women are big successes in fiction but represent a pathetic share of screenwriters, so I'd love to see more female novelists do their own screenplays too.

Literary novels have no rules, infinite freedom and an infinite budget! Films have many more constraints and above all, less time to say everything in, so the first thing I did with Room was cut lots of characters and situations that weren't crucial for the film.

There's a moment when you have to hand over the final script and I certainly felt a pang then, but I think next time I'll find it easier, because I now finally understand that it's still my scene even if it doesn't contain the same lines of dialogue."

"Write what truly, obsessively interests you" advice from Room author Emma Donoghue