Sarah Winman grew up in Essex and now lives in London. She attended the Weber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to act in theatre, film and television. Her first novel, When God Was a Rabbit was an international bestseller, her second A Year of Marvellous Ways was a Sunday Times bestseller and Tin Man was shortlisted for the Costa Novel award 2018. Her latest novel – the bestseller Still Life -was published in 2020.
(Image by Patricia Niven)
The conversation covers:
- ‘Storytelling is what I do to be me.’ Sarah’s interview with Matilda Bookshop
- Sarah’s shift from acting to writing
- How travel inspires her – ‘movement, away from home, is very creative’ and how the pandemic has impacted her creativity.
- The influence of first person narrative in A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving
- Writing routines including doing morning pages and always having a notebook with her
- Advice on writing dialogue and the joy of PLAY
- Writing, reading and researching and the Spitalfields Life blog
- A passion for globemaking (check out Bellerby & Co Globemakers)
- The influence of the essays in Looking at the overlooked: four essays on still life painting by Norman Bryson
- Finding a balance between private writing and public authoring
- The influence of Tim Winton and Cloudstreet (also Sarah Waters, Colm Toibin, Toni Morrison)
Sarah recommends:
- The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
- Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan
Find Sarah Winman on Instagram
The First Time podcast 
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