Here are some facts about Philip Hensher:
He was among Granta’s 20 Best of Young British Novelists in 2003.
His 2008 novel The Northern Clemency was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Commonwealth Prize.
His novel Scenes From Early Life (2012) is told in the form of a memoir and has photos in it.
He writes with no disturbances. No phone. No computer. No television.
Looking at the photograph of where Hensher writes, it’s obvious that he doesn’t have a desk.
In an interview with The Guardian Hensher said:
“I’ve never written successfully at a desk – whenever anyone tries to give me a desk, it always fills up immediately with old bits of paper, and, after a week or two, I go back to writing on the end of the dining table, clearing it all up before dinner. Or, more often, just on the arm of the sofa…A sofa, a notebook, and the promise to yourself that in a couple of hours you can put Radio 4 on – that’s just the ticket.”
Photographer: Eamonn McCabe
Carol Balawyder 