Yann Martel: Shedworker

Novelist Yann Martel (Life of Pi) works from a garden office at his home in Saskatoon, Canada, where he wrote his recent ‘The High Mountains of Portugal at a treadmill desk. In an interview with the New York Times he explains how he drinks plenty of herbal tea inside while he is writing.

“My studio is a strict working space, but my children blithely ignore that. They pound on my door, clamoring that they want to come in and draw pictures. My studio is therefore a strict working space and a children’s museum of ephemeral art.”

He goes on to describe his writing studio as "no more than enclosed emptiness, a cube of uncluttered quiet warmth in which I can collect my thoughts and try to marshal them". Inside there are no books to avoid distractions and few other bits and bobs including drawings by his young children. "All I need is a clean, well-lighted place as blank as the page I hope to write on."

In the video below, Martel talks about his writing life and shows us around his studio from about the 2:50 mark.

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