Robert Hass

Robert Hass: American poet

What are you reading?

It's called The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. The book is about an environmental crisis and has just been published in the United States. I am also reading the works of Colm Toibin, an Irish novelist.

Do you prefer paper books or e-books?

Paper books.

Who is your favorite writer this year?

Besides my wife (Brenda Hillman), Michael Ondaatje. He wrote The English Patient.

How much time do you spend reading every day, every week?

Not counting reading e-mails, just literary reading and reading for fun, it's about two hours every day.

Do you bring a book when you travel?

Absolutely. This time I brought two novels by Colm Toibin.

If you had a free evening, would you read a book, or watch a movie or TV?

I'd just talk to my wife, and some-times we watch baseball on TV, sometimes we listen to music, sometimes we read.