The Writer's Room: The Hidden Worlds That Shape the Books We Love

by Katie da Cunha Lewin

What is it that so fascinates us about the places where writers live and create?

Why does a remote cabin, ramshackle shed or library garret, strewn with papers and piled with books, so capture our imagination?

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The rooms of certain writers are mythologised almost as much as the works the Brontës' study in the parsonage; Virginia Woolf's garden room; Sigmund Freud's study, with its famous couch. They are preserved in writers' houses or recreated in museums, pictured and described in newspaper columns and on Instagram.




And yet writers, old and new, have worked in all kinds of in bedsits and boarding houses, at libraries, in bathrooms and while on the move. From Emily Dickinson's hidden writing pocket to Lauren Elkin typing on her phone on the bus, Maya Angelou in hotel rooms and Ernest Hemingway in Parisian cafés to the founders of Women of Color Press around their kitchen tables, Katie da Cunha Lewin dismantles the familiar furniture of the writer's room and opens it up.




The Writer's Room takes us on a fascinating journey through the hidden worlds that shape the books we love. It is the perfect gift for the reader in your life.

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'If you have ever felt preoccupied with visiting, snooping and uncovering the desks, shelves and habits of the greats, this book was made for you.' Penny Wincer, author of Home Matters

 

'A reverie - part pilgrimage, part personal reflection - on the places where writers find the right words.' Clare Hunter, author of Threads of Life




READER

'Literary, sharp, and utterly addictive'

'Thoroughly researched, thoughtful, and full of detail.'

'A beautiful read from start to finish'

'A book about valuing and protecting the act of writing, wherever it takes place.'

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Literature, Biography

224 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 11, 2025

Reviews

[Nailya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am the prime audience for a book like this. I am a fan of Olivia Laing and other similar authors who made their careers on light cultural analysis musings, I love unusual/literary travelogues (think A Flat Place, Haunted States: An American Gothic Guidebook, Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country, A Tomb with a View or From Here to Eternity), and I literally research the history of bibliotourism for a living. Maybe my standards are a bit too high, but this book left me with mixed feelings.

I really enjoyed the premise - focusing on writer's rooms as both tourist attractions and cultural spaces. I really liked the first couple of chapters, which focused on specific empirical case studies and provided a good mix of light analysis and fascinating anecdotal detail of the writing spaces of Dickens, Woolf, Freud and others. I also appreciated the attention the author paid to power imbalances in her discussions of who gets to have a dedicated writing space or a 'writer's room'.

I found the writing style, the repetitiveness of case studies, and the balance between breadth and depth less compelling. Every chapter reads like a journalistic essay, and almost every paragraph comes across as a conclusion. I wonder if the material could have been organised in a more coherent way to tell a more engaging story. I was also not very impressed with how narrowly focused the book was - the author mentioned several British case studies and a couple of American ones (eg, James Baldwin). As the book does not really provide much depth on the case studies the author chose to include (eg Woolf or the Brontës), the material came across as repetitive and the non-fiction narrative ran out of steam before the halfway point. Even if the author has limited linguistic expertise, they could have broadened their idea of Anglophone literature (and writers who get or don't get to have 'writer's rooms') to cover examples from beyond the UK and the USA (Canada? India? Jamaica? Singapore? Australia?). The author was clearly happy to use virtual tours and online research, so the limitation here is not defined by accessibility but by an active choice to cover X and not Y or Z. As a result, the book has a very white (and, despite the author's examination of the power dynamics in question, quite a middle class) focus with a couple of Black American case studies to mix it up. I am not even mentioning that in the age when other languages are more accessible than ever, more effort could have been put to at least give an overview of 'writer's rooms' in non-Anglophone cultures, or, worst comes to worst, a bit more of an exploration of non-European writers' rooms in the UK, if the author really wanted to keep the UK/USA focus. Why did we need Keates and not Sosemi? The book could have also explored the phenomenon of 'writer's rooms' museums from before the 19th century - the concept was neither invented nor popularised in that time period.

Worst of all, most of the time, I did not feel like I was learning anything particularly new from this book, and that sort of defeats the purpose of reading a non-fiction book.

Nevertheless, the book gave me some food for thought. What happens to writers' rooms when a writer fades into obscurity, or at least becomes less popular? Or, the other way round, what about people whose posthumous fame takes a couple of decades to develop (we truly are living through a Derek Jarman Renaissance, for example). The book really inspired the questions rather than provided the answers, though.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this the author takes a look at writers houses and their writing rooms within those houses, but she also looks at various spaces, aware that not all writers have the luxury of 'A room of ones I'm it is packed full of information, but at the same time very personal, and she frequently related back to get own writing. The bit talking about AI writing is interesting in light of the whole controversy surrounding The Salt Path, as she says she believes people will reject AI writing, seeking instead more authentic writing; (I mean, I would hope so), but even then we can't guarantee authenticity. We want what we read to have been worked at. I loved some of the info about writers homes as museums, I haven't visited nearly as many as I would like, though I did get to Chawton at the weekend.

I would say this would be really appreciated by a writer, or someone who would like to be a writer. There is an awful lot to enjoy for the reader as well.

*Many thanks to Netgally and the publishers for a copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, every review is but a personal reflection of how one felt about the book after reading it. I’d give this a 3 1/2 stars, rounded up to 4 because it was better than a three.

Things this book did didn’t lack:
* intelligence
* hundreds of writers referenced
* some very intelligent/academic thinking
* research and analysis
* great quotes.

And yet, every now and then I found myself fading away from it. It may have been because I’ve been working too hard. It may have been the font and the line spacing. It may have been something else. This book should’ve been right up my street, but for some reason I didn’t fully connect with it. Which is not to say you won’t. Loads of interest in there.

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a reflective and somewhat philosophical look at the spaces we might call a "writer's room," a phrase which has a lot of cultural weight to it but which can actually mean lots of things -- or not exist, as such, at all.
It touches lightly on several specific rooms or homes belonging to a number of both American and European authors, and considers what we hope to see or imagine by visiting them as literary tourists. It also discusses what the creative process can mean in different settings or circumstances. I found it relatively interesting, but I'm approaching it from the standpoint of an eager literary tourist and a reader--not so much a writer. I'd say it would be even more congenial reading for people who have devoted significant energy and time to creating.

Thanks to Elliott & Thompson via Netgalley for this review copy!

[Books By Your Bedside · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Elliott & Thompson for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I do love books about books and authors and writing.

This is a mixture of things. It looks at specific authors and their writing rooms and writing paraphernalia and whatnot, but it's also a deeply personal exploration of Katie's own experience, which was a nice balance.

I know a lot of people don't understand the need to see something that once belonged to a celebrity. And I do understand what they mean in a way, I'm not one for fawning over celebrities. But if you pit me in Charles Dickens' study and allow me to touch the paper, his desk, his pens, anything he has touched, then I'm afraid you'll see a different side of me. And I can't quite explain why but I think people who admire books and have favourite authors will understand.

In a way, it's less about the writer's space and more about them as a person, how they write, where, when, why, with a backdrop of location. It's not a how-do, it doesn't give advice on how to set up your own space.

I'd have liked some more photos, but I'm aware I had a digital ARC and so that may change before publication.

It got me thinking about the spaces I write in. I do have an office of sorts, which is basically a desk I bought in lockdown shoved to the wall in the spare bedroom. That's where I should write. But I also write on the sofa, at the dining table, in bed, in the notebook I've shoved in my handbag when I'm out. And sometimes I write in my head. Part of me wishes I had more discipline, because when I used to work a "proper" job, I went to my desk, logged on at 8am and worked there until whatever time the day finished. But now, I probably only work in the office once week, but I do admit I certainly get more done at the desk, but it feels more official and, at times, more pressurised to create something.

I do want to go on a tour of writer's workspaces now.

It's a very information heavy book, which I liked. It showed the amount of research Katie must have had to do in order to give this book such gravitas.

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Writer's Room is more than an exploration of the physical space in which writers have undertaken their craft. It digs much further into what the wider political, social and economic space in which a writer exists in means. It examines what objects, ideas and spaces we have associated with writers and how these objects can almost be performative symbols to the action of writing.

The idea that tools often associated with writers: desks, typewriters, journals and more modern tools of laptops and desktops are core to what writing is. When actually writing does not necessarily take place at these specific spaces. For some it's on buses, trains, in bed, in a public library or in a shared home.

Katie da Cunha Lewis asks us to think about who has the time and the economic privilege to write when there is so little money in the industry. Whether that be those of working class backgrounds, mothers who take the brunt of caring responsibilities and so many others. It brought to my mind the words of Audre Lorde when she wrote about who writes poetry.

"Of all the art forms, poetry is the most economical. It is the one which is the most secret, which requires the least physical labor, the least material, and the one which can be done between shifts, in the hospital pantry, on the subway, and on scraps of surplus paper. Over the last few years, writing a novel on tight finances, I came to appreciate the enormous differences in the material demands between poetry and prose. As we reclaim our literature, poetry has been the major voice of poor, working class, and Colored women. A room of one's own may be a necessity for writing prose, but so are reams of paper, a typewriter, and plenty of time." ~ Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider

This quote from Lorde was one of the main reasons I have tried to read more poetry as an adult.

To bring it back to The Writer's Room, it really captures the disparity of wealth and who is writing when Katie turns to discussions about whose writing rooms are preserved. She talks about visiting the rooms and homes of the likes of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and many other white middle class writers. And she contrasts this to James Baldwin, whose family were unable to secure the funds to save his house in the south of France. She also talks of about spaces such as Derek Jarman (activist and filmmaker) are now being used as spaces not only to "preserve" history, but to support future artists and creatives. Although there is something to be said for when it's the queer and marginalised communities making these spaces for others.  

It is a reminder and symbol of how wealth, race and power dominate who we remember, particularly in physical spaces and buildings which have an economic premium.

A brilliant book that makes you question the world that shapes our reading. Katie da Cunha Lewis asks us to reframe the way we see writers, where and how they are writing and who the writer is. Let's think of people typing in notes on buses, under duvets, even in the toilet between breaks. Writing is not an exclusive art form to be carried out only at a desk.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NETGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This is an interesting look at how a writer’s space can not only reflect the writer themselves, but can reflect their work. There’s a particular focus on female writers, the Brontë sisters and Sally Rooney especially are mentioned numerous times, and the additional societal pressure placed on women and mothers that reflects in the spaces chosen. It can be overly dry in places, but the places depicted are varied from a writing shed to a bougie shepherd’s hut. I would have liked to see a more in-depth focus on the rooms chosen as there’s a variety of topics brought in from them.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this a book to easily read in one sitting or to dip into, a fascinating and loving exploration of writers, the spaces where they write and the way they approach their craft. A wide range of authors is covered, spanning genres, genders and ethnicities, with reflections on privilege, domesticity and travel. Delightful and insightful.

With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't assume, as I did, that this is a collection of writing for the armchair traveller, taking us to see where famous authors wrote. Instead it's the academic look at that whole concept. Are we going to stand by Dickens' desk merely to see what he looked at when working, to get a sense of the man himself, or to get closer to some essence of him, finding the furniture he farted into giving an intimacy with him, possibly one where his genius rubs off on us?

This being academe of the modern era there's some small drip of hand-wringing about how most of the museums holding author's room exhibits honour the evil that is the white man, but beside that we have better chapters regarding how authors project themselves – do they sit in the world of what and how our imagination says an author should be? Are they literate in their clothes and online life, or do they hide and just try to let their output do all the talking? If the home décor allows us to see 'author', would worrying about getting the right look of Aga make us a poet?

Plus, of course, there are the numerous instances of people not writing at home. Maya Angelou demanded a plain and empty hotel room, never to be touched by fresh linen as never to be slept in; a certain boy wizard was gifted life through the primal spurts of the coffee machine; and for the first time the creation of a text into a phone or laptop can be done at the same speed, and in as many spaces – and in as many minute time slots – as can our consumption of the end product.

Ultimately this is a plea for the democratisation of literature – the chance for all the authors and poets of the future to study, write and revise, without interruptions from babies, bailiffs, the local library's collection of jobless, and whatever else has impeded our necessary hush. It's just harder to call yourself a writer, and eventually earn renown for your favourite desk, if you're dandling multiple children, worried about not owning your home, and can hear nothing but reggae from two floors down.

As such this is a pleasant diversion, but little here suggested the average reader, faced with such average intrusions, would find much to delight or inform. It remains a kind of consideration of the theme for a very select few that would do such a thing, ie ponder it themselves. My rating of three and a half stars doesn't say this is a bad book, but does suggest I'm not one of those people. Oh, and either way – if you want the book I say this isn't, turn to https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Emma Devlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ostensibly about the spaces writers inhabit, this book is actually more about how we think about writers, the act of writing and creativity. Specifically, da Cunha Lewin takes issues with the cultural image of the solitary writer labouring away in silence at their desk; the room they inhabit in our mind is free of distractions, free of commitments, precarity and all the things that make writing difficult. Curated spaces that preserve, say, Virginia Woolf’s writing desk at Monk’s House, buy into this image a little bit, and give visitors what they expect to say rather than the strict truth. Woolf used a writing board more than she used a desk. Through an exploration of the various spaces writers use to write – not all of them a singular room, or even a room at all – da Cunha Lewin points out how much more varied and peripatetic writing life is.

I loved the observations of how every-day, non-writing life shaped the writing space. She is clear about the barriers that limit access to the familiar idea of the writing room. Who can afford a home with that much space? Who has the time to sit and write for hours at a time? The spaces da Cunha Lewin explores are not always rooms, and not always even physical places. Cafés, buses, zoom calls. Mara Angelous rented hotel rooms and stripped them of any identifying features. But no writer really labours alone. At every turn, she reminds us that writing is an activity that is interwoven with life. There are people supporting artistic endeavours: people who turn writers’ homes in residencies, people who clean and tidy curated spaces, people who look after childcare and domestic responsibilities and people who just lend and ear.

It’s not a book of writing advice, but a book about valuing and protecting the act of writing, wherever it takes place.

Out in September from Elliot & Thompson. Thanks to them and Netgalley for the ARC.

[Haxxunne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leaves the reader wanting so much more
—
In a far-ranging and ultimately hazy memoir/essay hybrid, Lewin takes us on journeys into the spaces that writers. have occupied in order to think, to create, to live. Dipping in and out of the lives of writers as varied as Virginia Woolf, Sigmund Feud and Zadie Smith, with writers from all across the world, this book is more of an introduction to the notion of writers’ rooms, from domestic to purposeful, as spaces that are both physical and notional, thanks to films and television series, journalism and interviews, and ephemeral, as the time and space a writer works in, the psychological space amidst the rest of life, ephemeral third spaces like cafes and libraries, online spaces and in contention with AI ‘writing’ (my quotes).

This is an interesting book, but leaves the reader wanting so much more. Throughout there is a tension between the idealistic and fantastical writer’s garret, the perfect space in the mind’s eye where literature happens, and the reality of it, and what the two mean in terms of a reading public and an inspiring writing sector. It’s a very visual book but with few illustrations or photographs, but that might be partly to do with its structure, or rather, the lack of one. It’s not a travelogue, going from place to place, or even thematic across genre of writing, or even kind of architecture. Each chapter is themed but asks the reader to imagine seeing the spaces and places, as the author has done with many of the still extant locations, setting all of these places (and mental spaces) firmly in the imagination. I can imagine that a development of this book takes a geographic and architectural journey through writers’ rooms (and room for writing), with photos, illustrations and interviews with writers, and also explores the process of writing.

Three and a half stars

[A.J. Sefton · Rating 4 out of 5]

For many bibliophiles, the place where authors create their books and stories is a fascinating thing. I love to see where it happens, where characters and worlds are developed, and I never miss an opportunity to read an article showing modern authors' workstations. But it is the writers of the past that really interest me.

​This book is organised in five chapters, each covering a different theme. The first is 'The Preserved Writer's Room', which looks at the museums and houses that recreate the writing rooms. It is like a tourists' guide where the author visits as many of the sites as possible in the UK, with a few virtual guides and a couple based in the USA. There is a focus on Virginia Woolf's room and this is where the book opens, an obvious admiration being the driver here, amongst many others including the Brontes and Charles Dickens. There is nothing new but all interesting stuff anyway. This is the best chapter and held my interest completely.

The other chapters are more philosophical about the perceived concepts of writers and their spaces - not all books are written in office-type environments, but we think of lonely people working alone, whereas they often do not. As the book goes on, it becomes less like a literary travelogue and more a personal view of writers, the writing process and some well researched history. I love the cover design but am disappointed that there are only a few images.

​A book that will appeal to writers more than readers, but all bookish books are great aren't they?

[Onceuponaplace · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has spent years reading about authors’ studies, libraries, sheds, and garrets, and even chasing them in my own research travels, I felt an instant pull to Katie da Cunha Lewin’s The Writer’s Room. This book speaks directly to that obsession: the allure of a desk left just as it was, the creak of a chair once sat in, the strange intimacy of standing in a room where words that shaped us first took form.

Lewin moves gracefully from the well-known Woolf’s garden room to more surprising places: buses, hotel rooms, and kitchen tables where collective voices found strength. She reminds us that the act of writing is not confined to a sanctified study, but emerges wherever necessity, ritual, and imagination converge. That reminder struck me personally; I thought of my own scribbles written on trains, notes taken in borrowed corners of cafés, the longing for a room of my own.

If I had one wish, it would be for more photographs, but Lewin’s prose itself paints the spaces vividly enough. What lingers is not just the rooms themselves but the deeper question: why do we, as readers, long to enter them? Perhaps because by peering into these spaces we glimpse not just the writers, but our own yearning to be closer to creation.

An elegant, thoughtful book, and one I will keep on my shelf beside the travel journals I turn to when I need reminding of why we go in search of rooms at all.

Looking forward to reading more about the same author.
Thanks so much to NetGalley for my ARC and to the publisher!

[Lucy Ellis-Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me want a beautiful desk in a room overlooking the countryside, surrounded by nature, books, and old photographs; a quiet space to read and write in peaceful solitude. But it also challenged that idea. It explores the evolving concept of the writing room and what it even means to be a writer today. Does writing have to be done alone? In a set place? Or can it happen anywhere, woven into daily life?

I found this really readable, interesting, and a page turner. It delves into the fascination we have with writers and where they write. What actually makes someone a writer? And if you are one, can you ever really stop being one, even when you're on holiday, running errands, or caught up in everyday life?

I especially enjoyed the reflections on writers who resist the spotlight. Do we need to know who the writer is if they don’t want to be known? Isn’t the writing enough, without the marketing of a person as well?

The historical sections were a highlight for me, especially the tension between domestic life and creative work for women in the past. The book blends the personal with the historical beautifully and shows how writing habits, note-taking, and creative spaces have shifted in modern life.

Thoroughly researched, thoughtful, and full of detail. I’m very grateful to have received an ARC from NetGalley.  This is my honest review, and I’m really glad I had the chance to read it.

[Mel Aras · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book surprised me in the best way that is possible.

The book is divided into five chapters of different types of writer’s room. I liked the categorizations. It made me feel excited for each chapter.

Before I started to read the book I was expecting it to be a sort of an academical writing. However, the author reflects on the writer’s rooms with her own experiences and understandings of life. Besides the categorizations, the book does not really follow a strict writing but follows the mind of the author. This by no means it is all over the place. The book made me feel like I was talking to my friend. Maybe it is because I too am fascinated by the lives and workplaces of authors (and also had a portrait of Lord Byron next to my desk when I was a teenager like the author), that I could relate to the author a lot. However, at the end, I think it is not just about my own interests but it also has to do with the writing capabilities of the author that manages to portray their interests in the most lovable way that is possible. You just get excited to hear the thoughts of the author.

The only thing I would wish would be more pictures but I liked the book regardless.

I am sure I will be buying paperback copy of this book and add it to my collection. I think it needs to be in every literature lover’s collection.

Thanks to Netgalley, Elliott & Thompson, and Katie da Cunha Lewin for this advanced reader copy.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talk about an enchanting topic for a book! When poring over books, I often wonder where and how an author writes. Katie da Cunha Lewin delves into this with vim and vigour and gives many examples gleaned from her research and explorations. What's not to love about insight into an author's writing habitat? Many write at specific desks in their homes or at libraries, some on transport, others in cafes or the outdoors. I can envision the Brontë sisters at their dining table, Charlotte Perkins Gilman who was relegated to the nursery and Agatha Christie wherever there was a steady table and typewriter. Not only is the where described, but also delectable tidbits such as Jane Austen's little writing desk, John Keats' life mask, Virginia Woolf's desk behind glass, and Emily Dickinson's writings on edges of letters and recipes. The "typewriter century" was a turning point, too, as is the current digital age. Additionally, the author details her writing space along with the objects she surrounds herself with.

People like myself who adore reading books about books and writing will find plenty to enjoy here. The stories really make the authors' lives pop. Those which intrigued me most were the authors of the Classics up to and including Agatha Christie but there are also modern representations. I'd love to read more about personal effects of such writers!

[Book Club of One · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katie de Cunha Lewin's The Writer's Room is a series of interconnected essays musing on the art of writing that debates whether the place of creation or the discipline and opportunity are more important to the craft.

Each chapter explores a different type of space and blends travel writing, memoir and historical research to explore the different facets of the art of writing and balancing of the needs of daily life. As Lewin is located in the United Kingdom, this is where most of the focus lies, but there are inclusions of some notable American writers living both in the United States and abroad. Frequent reference and discussion of Virginia Woolf and her book A Room of One's Own is a frequent through line.

Much thought and great ideas for expanded the conversation of the creation of art and the human desire to 'see' a space where something notable or beloved was created or the performative nature of writing versus the actual drive, discipline and economic conditions needed.

Recommended reading to those interested in writing, literature or discussions of process.

I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sort of book you don’t know you need until you’re reading it. It’s a fascinating dive into how creatives find the space to write, what that is to them, how tied to it they are… it goes where Virginia Woolf trod with ‘A Room of One’s Own’ and then carries on further down the road. It’s a glorious look at many well known and less well known writers and their routines and idiosyncrasies.

Ms da Cunha Lewin physically visits several writers homes and ‘visits’ others on the internet. This is something I enjoy doing. I remember standing in John Milton’s study and just imbibing the vibe and atmosphere. I’m right there with the author when she’s in those various rooms.

But there’s also a look at cafes and libraries and public transport and all the ways and places people write. There’s an autobiographical aspect to the book and this adds to the experience as we share the author’s personal experiences and personal reflections on what she’s seeing.

This would be an excellent Christmas or birthday present for the writer or bookworm in your life. And recommended if you enjoy unusual and interesting books.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley

[Acantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a love letter to not only the spaces in which a writer crafts, but writers and the act of writing itself.

Made up of five chapters, this book explores the writers room persevered, sold, shared, absorbed and lost. It dances the line between exploration and the philosophical nature of what it actually means to write. There are discussions on the different between writing and a writer, between the act and the persona that the writer ends up creating about themselves but its very surface level at times.

I would have liked to have dived a little deeper into each of the rooms, to have gotten a feel. There is an image at the start of each chapter, but that only gives you five. It would have been fascinating to get that deeper look, especially when the main argument of the book is that we are drawn to these moments, these rooms or desks or breaths, that we long to feel the spark of creativity ourselves.

All in all, an interesting idea and a good way to spend a couple of hours.

~Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review~

[Chantal Agapiti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book feels like a history journal about writer’s, yet also like a literary reportage.
The author researched how other author’s wrote, or where their writing took place.
She refers to a special kind of solitude on which the labor of writing is based. According to her, there’s a relationship between what happens in the writer’s room and the world the writer attempts to comprehend. A strange dance between public and private aspects of life.
The writer’s room entails a space that give a true sense of a writer’s creative life. Writers seem to have unique powers of looking, a capability to record what they see. So this room is a protective bubble, keeping the writer in and the rest of the world out.
The author asks herself “how many other versions are there of the writer, except the one she imagines?”

I found the journey behind the doors of writers from the past interesting and compelling.

[Kelly Hollingworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a voracious reader I have never given much thought to where books are actually written. This book explores this very topic - where and why writing takes place. Part historical, part personal, writers past and present Katie da Cunha Lewin looks at the desk, the chair, the light, the often messy space and also the part technology has played - transforming writing formats from pen to typewriter to laptop, even mobile. With spotlights on the approaches of Virginia Woolf and the Brontes through to contemporary writers such as Hilary Mantel and Sally Rooney, the book provides fascinating insights into their writing objects, spaces and places. It also explores the shared spaces of today’s writers and the importance of casual spaces such as libraries and cafes, books fuelled by coffee. With clearly excellent and meticulous research this book will certainly make me imagine the writing room of the next book I pick up. A very interesting read.

[W.S. Luk · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...I'm struck by how much emotion I feel in entering a little space of my own..."

Using a study of writers and their writing spaces to examine cultural attitudes towards the creative process, THE WRITER'S ROOM is a thought-provoking examination of how we imagine the worlds that authors inhabit. From Joan Didion's apron to Emily Dickinson's pockets, this book uses the physical minutiae surrounding the writing process to discuss the way it's involved with wider cultural concerns: the restrictions of gender and class and race on the spaces writers can inhabit, the aesthetics that different writers adopt in confronting the public, how these places and totems of literary histories are preserved. Sometimes technical but always engaging, this is a short but rich book about how books get written.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I was excited to read about what some of my favourite writers' rooms were like. The author did such a fantastic job of bringing them to light. The way the various rooms were described, I could see them in my mind's eye—a beautiful threading of the author’s writing experience with other writers. After years of writing in a variety of spaces and during interruptions, I now have a dedicated space to call my own. I used to think that I wasn't a real writer until I did. This book was a balm for that notion.

The bibliography is a great resource list to learn more. What a great gift for the writers in your life!

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I might have just been the wrong reader for this book. I thought it was going to be a bit more straightforward with descriptions of different famous writers' workspaces, but this was a lot more esoteric than that. A lot of the writing felt like it was kind of going over my head because it was so scholarly-sounding. I also wasn't all that interested in a lot of the writers and books she was referencing, so it just didn't feel that captivating to me. There are probably lots of readers who will love this deep dive into writing and history, but even as a writer myself, I just struggled to get through it.

*Free ARC provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

It occurs to me that we might be seeking all sorts of things out of a book entitled, A Writer’s Room. As avid readers we might hope for a book full of photos; an A-Z of writer’s rooms; an itenerary; a study of which books were written where. Although it has some of these elements, it is not these things. This is more musing, reflective, a meditation on the art of writing with some fascinating anecdotes and insights into creativity and space.

In the course of the book the author visits many different writers’ rooms. Freud’s writing room was also the room where he died; some writers’ rooms have been ‘tidied up’ by curators and staged with particular objects which might speak for them. How useful are these curated spaces? What is particularly interesting is what our visits to these spaces say about us and our fascination for writing. I know, for example, that I when I have visited Haworth I am always astounded by the idea that stories like Wuthering Heights came from that cold parsonage and its bleak surroundings. In an auction of the possessions of Joan Didion, her unopened Moleskine notebooks atttracted a lot of attention. The author wonders if the purchasers imagined that the books might inspire them to write and inhabit Didion’s writing space.

In a chapter entitled, Temporary Spaces, the author discusses the writers who found inspiration outside of the writing room. Virginia Woolf didn’t like the height of the table of her new room.; James Baldwin found inspiration in France. Others choose hotel rooms, cafes. I loved the wide reach of the author’s consideration of her subject. She moves from discussing individual spaces to the impact of technology, the economics of having a space and time to write. the commodification of writers.

The book is a celebration of writing and creativity, asserting the importance of valuing and protecting them and ultimately speaking to our continued curiousity about the inspiration and art behind the works of fiction that we have taken to our heart.

[Elizabeth Drummey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to Elliot & Thompson and NetGalley for the ARC! The Writer’s Room is being released on September 11 2025.

As someone who loves reading books about books and writers, I thought this book would be for me. And it didn’t disappoint! In The Writer’s Room, Katie da Cunha Lewin reflects on the mythology surrounding the spaces authors write in, how they are preserved as museums, how they are portrayed in media, and how they impacted the authors. Da Cunha Lewin explores far more than just rooms belonging to single authors–she discusses shared rooms, cafés, and rooms that no longer exist. She touches on Virginia Woolf, the Brontë sisters, James Baldwin, and more.

This book is incredibly well-researched and features some excellent analysis of films. However, there is also an aspect of memoir that I really enjoyed. Da Cunha Lewin talks about her experiences and journey to claiming the title of writer for herself. Even with the discussions of some of my absolute favorite authors’ writing spaces, these personal parts were what I liked best. It kept things engaging for the reader and ensured that the book didn’t get too bogged down in the more historical and academic aspects. And I especially loved the descriptions of her visits to various writers’ museum houses! That was a lot of fun.

Overall, The Writer’s Room is a great mix of history, analysis, and memoir. If you’re interested in the writer and their space as concepts, this is the book for you!

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Katie da Cunha Lewin’s The Writer’s Room is a fun peek into where famous writers actually worked. I really liked the historical bits about their creative spaces, like the Brontës writing at the same table or Virginia Woolf tucked away in her garden room. Those details made the book come alive and gave a real sense of how surroundings can shape imagination. As a reader, and fledgling writer, it is inspiring to learn how some of the greatest writers and thinkers worked. Lewis focuses on this fact in the first chapter exploring our obsession with gaining insight into celebrities’ lives.

What didn’t work for me was the constant focus on how marginalized communities, especially women, didn’t have the same luxury of their own writing space. I got the impression Lewin believed women have a harder time writing because they are so focused on raising a family and caring for a home. It’s an understandable point but it misses entirely that everyone is focused on their own responsibility and it is up to the writer to make time to write. I wanted more stories about the rooms and less about the politics of who gets one.

Still, it’s worth reading for the history alone, especially if you like getting a glimpse into the messy, human side of how great books are made.

[Sym · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read that started where I expected but then delved deep into areas I hadn't. I enjoyed hearing the authors voice throughout and was comforted by the fact that writers don't always sit a desk! The author mentions the opening credits to Murder She Wrote, which I completely related to as I assumed that's how writers' wrote - using typewriters with pages flying off the machine. It's an odd comfort that everyone finds the craft of writing challenging and how the space we assign or struggle to assign is vitally important to that endeavour.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this is not the sort of book that you read straight through unless you are absolutely passionate to learn everything about writers. That isn't me. But this IS the type of book I'd want on a shelf above or near my desk. I'd leaf through it and randomly read certain passages or chapters when I was bored and looking for inspiration. But that's just me. What would you do with it?

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. Fascinating in small doses!

[Lydia Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not finish all of this book in fact as I just found it very difficult to connect with and a bit of a chore to read. I did enjoy hearing about some famous author writing dens (particularly that of Virginia Wolf) but as so much of it was about the author herself - who I am afraid I just do not know- not all of it was so interesting.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC.