Nothing should undermine our desire to call ourselves artists

What voices are being lost to us because making art has increasingly become the preserve of those who have the fiscal means to do so? asks Louise O’Neill

As I write this column, I am just back from a two-week trip to promote my new novel. Although I am, of course, exceedingly grateful for the media attention — how else are people going to know that the book is available? — it is still one of the strangest parts of being an author.

You go from leading a solitary life, just you and your laptop, to being thrust onto television screens and covers of magazines, trying your best to be charming and eloquent and persuade people that your book is worth their money.