Ten Things I've Learned About Love
What can you tell us about your new book Ten Things I've Learned About Love?
It’s the story of Alice – a woman in her late 20s recently returned to London from months of travelling abroad, and Daniel – a homeless man who searches the streets for the daughter he has never met. The death of Alice’s father brings this seemingly disconnected pair together, changing both of their lives.
The novel touches upon a story that is very unique, where did the inspiration come from?
From two key things, I think. Firstly, losing my home through the breakdown of a relationship made me really think about my relationship to home, to the idea of a physical house, and to London. Secondly, I’ve been working on place-specific projects in London for many years and this novel was an attempt to bring some of those experiences of the city, and ideas about how we connect with place, into my fiction.
You run your own consultancy to develop literature and arts projects, can you expand on this for us?
The consultancy is called UrbanWords and is something I set up in 2006 to bring together my work and thinking about writing and place. I’ve done a huge variety of projects, from public art commissioning through to developing writing residencies for myself and other writers. Everything is underpinned by this interest in how writing relates to place, particularly in the context of urban regeneration.
How much has teaching in Kuala Lumpur aided your own work?
I think any opportunity to work with other writers aids your own work. Trying to articulate what works and what doesn’t in a piece of writing is always an interesting challenge, and you learn a lot about your own writing in the process. Working with writers living in and writing about a different place and a different culture was hugely interesting and inspiring.
You have been a writer in residence at places such as Great Ormond Street Hospital, what does this involve?
I love the writer-in-residence model because it offers a sustained period of time to build a relationship with a place and a group of people and create new work directly out of that experience. Most residencies will have a brief attached (in the case of Great Ormond Street Hospital it was to work with patients and carers to develop new work inspired by a new wing of the hospital) and it’s the writer’s job to work out how to respond to that in the most interesting and effective way.
This is your first novel, so what comes next for you?
Another novel! It’s currently a series of sketches and half-thoughts, but I’m excited about it.
Which book is your favourite read?
There are so many! I tend to love different books at different points in my life. My current favourite is Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson which is courageous and honest and beautiful. But I could equally say Accordion Crimes by Annie Proulx, or The House of Spirits by Isabelle Allende, or Jane Eyre.
Which authors do you think have had an influence on this book?
There are some authors who have had a very direct influence as tutors, mentors and encouragers: Maggie Gee, Jacob Ross, Ali Smith, Jackie Kay and Martina Evans. In more abstract terms of style and inspiration, I adore Anne Tyler’s writing for its detailed excavations of everyday lives – she’s definitely an influence, as are Alice Munro, Jackie Kay and Jon McGregor.
What advice can you give to aspiring writers?
To make sure that the words on the page are as good and as beautiful as you can make them. To be open and humble and brave and ambitious and persistent.
Why is the book set in London, is this somewhere that is important to you?
I am from Manchester and have recently moved back there, but I lived and worked in London for over eight years. Because my work is so place-orientated, I’ve got to know parts of the city extremely well, and had the privilege of meeting and hearing stories from a huge range of people. I’ve also just finished an MSc in Urban Studies at University College London. Ten Things I've Learned About Love is in large part an attempt to write London – to find a way to conjure its everyday beauty.
Click here to buy Ten Things I've Learned About Love by Sarah Butler
Female First Lucy Walton