“How can I know what I think, until I see what I say?” (E. M. Forster). How much of your writing surprises you?
There are many thoughts that would never have come to me if I hadn’t been writing. What surprises me most is how, when I’m writing a story and I have no idea what should happen next, imagination always opens a path.
What is the first thing you remember reading or being read to?
Grimms’ Fairy Tales. I remember my mother reading them to me, and they were among the first things I read once I’d learned to read myself.
Is there a particular sentence that has stayed with you throughout your life?
Among others: “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known”. Hilary Mantel disdained Charles Dickens as the most overrated author, for his sentimentality and for “playing to the gallery”. But reading him was what made me want to be a novelist when I grew up. Besides, I think Mantel was just trying to avoid naming someone living.
What is the most interesting item on your bookshelf?
The books, of course.
Have you ever regretted publishing something?
No, but I always regret that what I have published wasn’t better written. That’s why I hate to reread my own work; I see all the flaws that it is now too late to change.
Proust had madeleines. Which foods or meals trigger your memory?
Eggs with spinach, a classic German supper dish, brings back memories of childhood. Frozen custard: a part of every ferry crossing between my home borough of Staten Island, New York, and Manhattan, which we always referred to as “the city”.
Have you had any notable experiences meeting authors you admire?
I wrote a whole book about the very rich experiences I had when I knew Susan Sontag and about other authors whom I met through her.
Do you have a favourite bookshop?
Three Lives and Company, in Manhattan’s West Village. I’ve been going there since it opened in 1978.
How does distraction inform your writing?
You mean that great big distraction otherwise known as living?
What are you currently reading or watching?
I am on an Anne Enright binge, love and admiration growing with every page.
Who has influenced your writing?
Other writers. Northrop Frye was right: “Poetry can only be made out of other poems; novels out of other novels”.
Which piece of music have you listened to the most in your life?
No single piece of music, but the composer I have probably listened to most has been Mozart. I can find something of his that’s appropriate for any mood I might be in.
Do your ideas form themselves in your head or on the page?
Both, but more, by far, on the page. The ideas that form in my head are usually quite vague. When I write they become more precise, and they keep giving rise to new ideas as I think about what it is I’m trying to say. And if I don’t get certain ideas down on the page right away, I might lose them.
What is the worst job you ever had?
When I was young I worked mostly freelance, and one of the jobs I did was legal proofreading. For several weeks I had to proofread telephone numbers, column after column, seven hours a day. To make things worse, I kept making mistakes, which were thankfully caught by a second, more competent proofreader.
If you could choose any piece of art to hang above your desk, what would it be?
None. I’ve always wanted that space to be completely blank.
What was your favourite text studied at school?
I can’t say there was a single favourite. As a student I loved reading and my favourite subject was literature, and once I discovered great big fat nineteenth-century novels I knew that I’d found heaven and that I’d never be alone again.
Which font do you write in?
Times New Roman. Not because I prefer it to all others; it was the Microsoft default font on my first computer and I got used to it.
What does a writing day look like for you?
If all goes according to plan, I start work immediately after getting up in the morning. I work as long as I can, about four or five hours. I sometimes go back to writing later the same day, but usually that’s when I do reading or research for whatever it is I’m working on.
Which other art forms are necessary to your writing?
I don’t know if other art forms are necessary to my writing, but I consider them necessary to my life, music and film in particular.
Where do you seek refuge?
In nature and in my work. And, to borrow from the poet Adam Zagajewski: “in the beauty created by others”.
Sigrid Nunez is the New York Times bestselling author of The Friend, winner of the 2018 National Book Award, and of seven other novels, including Salvation City, The Last of Her Kind, and What Are You Going Through. She is also the author of Sempre Susan: A memoir of Susan Sontag. Her books have been translated into over thirty languages.
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