Louise Hare, author of ‘This Lovely City’ and Features Editor for MIR online, takes on our questionnaire.
What is a typical day for you?
I’m writing this at the start of the Covid-19 shut-down. I should be preparing to take part in lots of events associated with the publication of my debut novel but unfortunately they’ve all been cancelled. At the moment I’m between drafts of my second book so I’m catching up on a lot of reading, going for walks to try to work out some issues with the plot of what I hope will be my third book, and trying to stay positive.
What are you most excited about in the next 12 months?
Being able to get back to normal life! I have lots of cool events lined up for the autumn which I’m looking forward to.
What was your favourite subject at school and why?
French. Weirdly I think it taught me more about language and sentence structure than my English lessons did.
What surprises you about life as a writer that you didn’t expect?
How many friends I’ve made through writing. I’ve met some really wonderful and supportive people.
If you had to give an aspiring writer one piece of advice, what would it be?
Get used to rejection, it’s inevitable, and learn to appreciate it. It makes the success all the sweeter.
Favourite books
- Another Country – James Baldwin
- The Book of Night Women – Marlon James
- Life After Life – Kate Atkinson
- The Dark Circle – Linda Grant
- The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead
Favourite film
The Princess Bride
Best sandwich
Supermarket cheese and onion with Walkers prawn cocktail crisps sandwiched in the middle.
Coffee or tea?
The first cup of coffee in the morning is the best. Nothing special, just made in a cafetiere.
Which author, living or dead, would you like to write your biography.
James Baldwin would make me sound far more interesting than I really am, plus I’ve lived most of my adult life in London and no one writes a city like he does.
Louise Hare completed the MA Creative Writing at Birkbeck in 2018. Her debut novel ‘This Lovely City’ was written on the MA and was published by HQ Harper Collins in March 2020.