HTSI editor’s letter: inside the writer’s room

In the years since its publication, Virginia Woolf’s essay “A Room of One’s Own” has become an easy shorthand for thoughts on gender and the politics of space. It is based on two lectures delivered at Cambridge University in 1928, which Woolf used to lament both the injustice of a system that failed to offer women creative freedoms, and a society where women lacked the means to find the space in which they might excel. Money was one issue. Motherhood another. And, speaking to the five women writers featured in this issue, it seems that many of the same themes are as relevant today. 

Among the writers, who come from a diverse range of backgrounds, and who tackle very different themes, the idea of having a dedicated place in which to do one’s writing still engenders interesting conversations about femininity and decoration, about focus and distraction, about trying to write while also trying to manage childcare and, perhaps inevitably, about what a space might say about one’s sense of worth. 

Our workplaces have become almost a thing of fetish

In Tokyo, Mieko Kawakami has created an ultra-girlish office in which she draws on porcelain knick-knacks, scented candles and memento mori to access personal connections she can feed into her work. She juggles writing with childcare and working as a journalist and translator: her writing time is reduced to a “solid” three-hour block per day. By contrast, Megan Nolan keeps her writing space (which doubles as a guest room) quite clear of clutter, to better focus. While Mexican writer Brenda Navarro just puts on her headphones: once she’s got her soundtrack she can write anywhere. Some writers like the world of the familiar for creative stimulation; others remove all distractions and inhabit the monastic cell. Torrey Peters wakes very early and allows the sunrise over Brooklyn to stir her imagination. Hafsa Zayyan wrote a substantial chunk of her debut novel on her iPhone while commuting on the Tube. 

Grace Cook’s interviews with all these writers make up a fascinating portrait, not only of the contemporary writer but also of the way we approach our work. At a time in which our workspaces have become almost a thing of fetish, it’s as interesting to read about those people who curate every centimetre to help generate a best performance as it is to find those who say they don’t care about their space at all.

Were I to write a bestselling novel (and hey, who doesn’t dream that maybe someday they will get their nib out?), I can think of worse places than Bolton Abbey in which to pen my tome. The Hall, which sits beside the Priory ruins in Yorkshire, has been the summer retreat of the Dukes of Devonshire and their families since the 18th century but is, as of this year, being opened to plebeians such as myself. Decorated by Rita Konig and overseen by Laura Burlington, the Countess of Burlington, the property, which has 10 bedrooms (and bathrooms), has been reimagined for visitors in a Konig-ish mash of clashing florals, spacious sofas and bathrooms painted, naturally, in Pepto-Bismol pink. Sitting at a desk overlooking 28,000 acres of national park, any budding novelist, I’d hope, might feel inspired. 

Emiko Davies was inspired to write her latest cookbook after many trips to Venice, and more especially by the cicchetti, or snacks, that the Venetians eat in lieu of proper meals. They are part appetisers, part salad (she shies away from saying cicchetti are like tapas), and Emiko’s resulting book is an odyssey around the city via some of her favourites plates. I’m deeply envious of Emiko: just take a look at her Instagram account of her lovely home in Tuscany, her gorgeous children and her frankly astounding terrazzo kitchen worktops, and you’ll know exactly what I mean. I would have a crack at recreating the traditional dish sarde in saor, for which she kindly provides a recipe. But, on second thoughts, I think I’d rather book a flight to Italy and eat the real thing instead. 

@jellison22