Ann Patchett
American author
Before email was invented.
When were you happiest?
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
1 May 1981 in Paris, because that’s the day I was reconverted to Catholicism.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2017 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 577 →Recently, as people began to understand what I am trying to do in my painting.
Sheena Easton
Scottish singer
When my kids were young enough for me to carry them both, one on each hip. I miss walking in the door and them flinging themselves at me.
Jo Nesbø
Norwegian writer and musician
When Molde won the Norwegian premier league in 2011, the year the club was 100 years old.
More from Martin Sheen
View profile →After the initial travel ban debacle, I wept with joy at all the good people who came out against this fascistic edict.
Golfer, priest, police officer, teacher and, after going to the movies, actor.
That I was partially responsible for bringing some extraordinary human beings into the world, and they responded to me as a loving father.
Shares in The Way, which turned out to be the best movie I have done. Written and directed by my son Emilio, it’s a father-son story about the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.
Making Apocalypse Now. I had a close call with a heart ailment due to anxiety, fear and physical abuse: I was not taking care of myself.
That would have to be a film called Pickup On 101. It was a very interesting story, about a wandering musician and an old guy on his way back to his home town to spend his last days, but they made it into a pile of dishonest trash.
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