Rooms of Their Own

Description

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.

Rooms of Their Own travels around the world, examining the unique spaces in which famous writers created their most notable work. 

Alex Johnson is a journalist, blogger and the author of A Book of Book Lists, Improbable Libraries, Bookshelf, and Shedworking: The Alternative Workplace Revolution. He runs the web sites Shedworking at www.shedworking.co.uk and Bookshelf at www.onthebookshelf.co.uk. Alex lives in St Albans, London with his wife, three children, and plenty of books from all over the world.

Introduction                                                                           
Isabel Allende
Maya Angelou
Margaret Atwood
W.H. Auden
Jane Austen
James Baldwin
Honoré de Balzac
Ray Bradbury
The Brontës
Anton Chekhov
Agatha Christie
Colette
Roald Dahl
Charles Dickens
Emily Dickinson
Arthur Conan Doyle
Ian Fleming
Thomas Hardy
Ernest Hemingway
Victor Hugo
Samuel Johnson
Judith Kerr
Stephen King
Rudyard Kipling
D.H. Lawrence
Astrid Lindgren
Jack London
Hilary Mantel
Margaret Mitchell
Michel de Montaigne
Haruki Murakami
George Orwell
Sylvia Plath
Beatrix Potter
Marcel Proust
J.K. Rowling
Vita Sackville-West
George Bernard Shaw
Zadie Smith
Danielle Steel
Gertrude Stein
John Steinbeck
Dylan Thomas
Mark Twain
Kurt Vonnegut
Edith Wharton
E.B. White
P.G. Wodehouse
Virginia Woolf
William Wordsworth
Visitor Information
Index                                                                                      
Picture credits
 

Additional information

Dimensions	1 × 6.95 × 9.15 in
Imprint	Frances Lincoln
Format	General Trade
ISBN-13	09780711258013
ISBN-10	0711258015
Author	Alex Johnson
Illustrator	James Oses
Audience	General / adult
BISAC	LIT000000, TRV026090
Subjects	The Brontes, Astrid Lindgren, D. H. Lawrence, Judith Kerr, Samuel Johnson, Victor Hugo, Ian Fleming, Arthur Conan Doyle, Colette, Anton Chekhov, Jack London, Ray Bradbury, Honoré de Balzac, W. H. Auden, Maya Angelou, Isabel Allende, James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood, Emily Dickinson, Danielle Steel, P. G. Wodehouse, E. B. White, Edith Wharton, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, Dylan Thomas, John Steinbeck, Gertrude Stein, Zadie Smith, George Bernard Shaw, Vita Sackville-West, Marcel Proust, Sylvia Plath, Haruki Murakami, Michel de Montaigne, Margaret Mitchell, Hilary Mantel, tokyo, William Wordsworth, Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens, Beatrix Potter, Jane Austen, Creative writing, genius, poetry, short stories, Thomas Hardy, travel, imagination, novel, author, creativity, advice, inspiration, prompts, routines, George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway, J. K. Rowling, Roald Dahl, Stephen King, literary towns, how to be a writer, quotes, daily rituals, LIT000000, TRV026090, Japan, places, France, Rudyard Kipling, Agatha Christie, 1001 books you must read before you die