Writers' Rooms

nik.mercer — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:34:30 -0700

The Guardian recently put together a rather lengthy collection of photos of famous writers' workspaces, each of which is accompanied by an essay concerning the nature of said offices.

Check it out here!

We're big fans of Rudyard Kipling's (rustic, safari antique), Roald Dahl's (a, uh... chair... in a shed), Martin Amis' (nice ceiling decoration), and George Bernard Shaw's (so simple, so sparse; obviously the work of a literary genius). It's always fun to peek into the personal and intimate spaces of artists―dead or otherwise―especially if it's from the comfort of your own home. (No museum fees, travel expenses, annoying tourists.)

We were considering putting together a collection of our work areas, but decided against it. This writer Twitters articles from a Blackberry and others are known to utilize a voice-recognition word processor while watching The Real World XX.

From Quentin Blake's essay on Dahl's workspace:

He wrote in the shed as long as I knew him - we worked together for 15 years from 1975 to 1990 and I illustrated a dozen of his books. I would take my drawings down to Gipsy House for him to look at while sitting on the sofa in the dining room. I don't think he let anybody in the shed.

From Amis' essay on his own workspace:

I'm not a memento type of person. I don't care about first editions, I'm not a collector, I'm more frightened of clutter. My only heirloom from Kingsley is a clock on the desk, but I don't wind it up because I'm frightened of breaking it. The little bottles of water are from my younger daughter Cleo. When she was around four or five she brought them in and declared dramatically: "Now you'll never have to come into the house again!"