A Writing Woman

A spellbinding memoir of a writing life

‘I’ve been writing for most of my life, with hardly a pause, as if my survival depended on the process, which I suppose in a way it did.’

Three islands, two abandoned houses, a remote mountain village; Napoleon in exile, old man Goya, Billie Holiday’s friends and lovers: Julia Blackburn’s writing has always moved freely across time and terrain, drawing her life and work into intimate conversation.

In A Writing Woman, Blackburn reflects on a life shaped by books but also by places, friendships and fleeting encounters. With tenderness and unsparing candour, she tells of loves and losses, illness, ageing and building a home, assembling scenes from past and present that have made indelible marks on her life and writing.

Above all, we see the sustaining power of her curiosity and attention – to art, to nature, to other living beings. A Writing Woman is the story of a life lived in writing and confirms Blackburn as one of the most intriguing and original writers working today.