Michel Houellebecq, novelist: ‘It’s exhausting being called a fascist writer, but you eventually resign yourself to it’

Michel Houellebecq says he has gradually accepted being labelled a fascist writer, though he finds the accusation exhausting. In an interview at a literature festival in Bilbao, the French novelist also reflects on humour, literary presence and the new realities that give writers material.

Houellebecq, who is 70, discusses his latest poetry collection, published in March and not available in English. He distinguishes his aggressive, often cruel irony from humour, which he sees as self-directed; he says artificial intelligence is difficult to write about because he does not understand how it works. His novels include *Submission*, *Platform* and *Annihilation*.