Where Do Writers Write?

A piece in The New York Times’ T Magazine might as well be called “Which Books Do We Most Look Forward to in 2014?” But this particular hot book five are grouped another way: by where they work. From the magazine’s culture and design section:

Upstairs, downstairs, in a corner, at a desk, on the bed, with a view of trees, water, the street, the sky. Five writers, who all publish new books this year, explain how the right space can unlock the mind and let the words flow.

Since this five are likely to make a lot of top lists in 2014, we’re excited to learn that Colson Whitehead (The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death, out from Doubleday in May) moves his desk around a lot in his West Village duplex.

And somehow it’s dead cool to learn that Douglas Coupland (Worst. Person. Ever. from Blue Rider Press in April) writes on an escritoire he found on Craigslist and refinished.

Mona Simpson wrote the first draft of her much-anticipated Casebook (Knopf, April) on a table in the Santa Monica Public Library. Joyce Carol Oates (Carthage available now from Ecco) says that what her writing room “contains is less significant to me than what it overlook” while Roddy Doyle (The Guts, available now from Viking) works out of the attic of his home in Dublin.

Each author has told T where they work inside a tidy essay in their own voices. It’s a lovely little piece and you can see it at T Magazine here.