Rooms of Their Own
travels around the world examining the unique spaces, habits and rituals in which famous writers created their most notable works.
The perennial question asked of all authors is,
'How do you write?'
. What do they require of their room or desk? Do they have favourite pens, paper or typewriters? And have they found the
perfect daily routine to channel their creativity?
Crossing centuries, continents and genres, Alex Johnson has pooled 50 of the best writers and transports you to the
heart of their writing rooms
– from attics and studies to billiard rooms and bathtubs.
Discover the ins and outs of
how each great writer penned their famous texts
, and the
routines and habits they perfected
. Meet authors who rely on silence and seclusion and those who need people, music and whisky. Meet novelists who travel half-way across the world to a luxury writing retreat, and others who just need an empty shed at the bottom of the garden. Some are particular about pencils, inks, paper and typewriters, and some will scribble on anything – including the furniture. But whether they write in the library or in cars, under trees, private islands, hotel rooms or towers – each of these stories confirms that
there is no 'best way' to write.
From
James Baldwin,
writing in the small hours of the morning in his Paris apartment, to
DH Lawrence
writing at the foot of a towering Ponderosa pine tree, to the
Brontë sisters
managing in a crowded co-working space, this book takes us into the lives of some of history's greatest ever writers, with each writing space
illustrated in evocative watercolour
by James Oses.
In looking at the working lives of our favourite authors,
bibliophiles will be transported to other worlds
,
aspiring writers will find inspiration
and literature fans will gain
deeper insight into their most-loved authors.