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Charlotte Wood is one of Australia’s most celebrated authors. Her most recent novel, Stone Yard Devotional, was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. Here, she reveals the three writers she’d turn to for life advice.
Did you make a new year’s resolution and if so what was it?
I make and break them every year. This year I resolved that every day I must make something, read something and move something (i.e. my body).
What are you reading and or listening to at the moment?
Reading Graham Greene’s Monsignor Quixote for Yiyun Li’s A Public Place book club. Listening to Sharon Van Etten’s ‘Every Time the Sun Comes Up’ on repeat.
If you could re-read one book what would it be?
Impossible to choose one! But right now it’s Elizabeth Strout’s My Name is Lucy Barton.
Podcasts or video streaming? And do you have any recommendations?
Both. Mostly bookish podcasts. The Secret Life of Books is relatively new and so refreshing – super smart hosts bringing classic literature to sparkling life. Also Michael Williams’s Read This – brilliant interviews with writers of all stripes.
What is your favourite hotel and why?
Sea Containers in London is pretty great – right on the Thames at Southbank, close to everything arty, the people are lovely and it has two excellent cocktail bars.
Who do you admire and why?
I admire artists of all kinds, for bringing beauty into an ugly world, for their dissent and protest and humour, for showing us there are other lenses for thinking and seeing through than the purely capitalist and algorithmic and for their tenacity in keeping going in a culture that tells us we’re largely worthless.
What is your Instagram feed most likely to be full of?
Art, books, food.
What does a typical day look like?
Up early (around 5am), shower, coffee and emails, a walk if I’m feeling it, then into the day. A writer’s life has more variety than you’d think – could be travel and interviews, but the best is a long open day of working (i.e. staring into space, frowning, tapping out a few hundred words and then tossing them).
Do you have a favourite designer?
No, but I love byfreer – I scoot in there when I have a windfall.
What is the one thing you spend money on that could be considered an indulgence?
See above! Also very good quality balsamic vinegar.
What brings you joy?
Cooking, pottering in the garden. Growing and making.
Is exercise a must or a grind and how do you fit it into your lifestyle?
I’m lazy but try to get in a daily hour of walking and I do pilates three times a week to keep the ancient bod functioning well. Strength is more important to me than svelteness these days!
What do you hope people will remember about you?
That I was a truthful friend and a good cook.
Who are three women you’d like to be in the room with when making a big decision?
[Three writers] Anne Enright, Margaret Atwood and Helen Garner.
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