Roddy Doyle: ‘When you’re a Dublin writer, you’re inevitably asked about Joyce, and it’s tedious’

Roddy Doyle: ‘Dickens would be good company, just for a short while. He’s probably a bit overbearing.’ Photograph: Brid O'Donovan/The Observer

You’ve written books, films, TV shows and plays. Which of your projects do fans most want to talk to you about?

The one that people react to most, particularly women, is The Woman Who Walked Into Doors [about a woman experiencing domestic violence]. It came out in 1996, but even now – I was at a book signing event in Auckland a couple of days ago and two women told me quietly that that book meant so much to them. I think it’s possibly the best book I’ve written.