Swedenborg’s Lusthus

One for the shed bookshelf at home, Swedenborg's Lusthus published by London-based Swedenborg House is a fascinating selection of essays about the 18th century Stockholm back garden summerhouse (the 'lust' bit is not what you might think) in which Swedish philosopher and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg wrote his most famous works. It features more than 100 colour illustrations pieces from the likes of Iain Sinclair on the links between writing and place, plus a foreword by shedworker Deborah Levy who writes: “To write in a summerhouse is to serenely contemplate one’s own fear of losing the life we have planned and to be humbled by the spider architects spinning the perfect composition of their silken webs in every corner.”

Happily, you can still visit the summerhouse today. Lots more information about it and links to even more at New Church History.

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Deborah Levy on her writing shed garden office

We've covered novelist Deborah Levy's writing shed several times before on Shedworking so it was intriguing to read about exactly how she furnishes it in the Financial Times. She has an... eclectic taste. Here is a snippet:

Pride of place on the wall of my shed is an artwork gifted to me by Cornelia Parker. It’s a black-and-white photograph of Charlotte Brontë’s quill and is part of a series titled Brontëan Abstracts. Parker used an electron microscope to magnify various objects and artefacts belonging to the Brontë family at the Parsonage Museum in Haworth, such as their needlework and even strands of their hair. Charlotte’s quill, in this photograph, resembles the wing of a bird. In my own mind, it is there in my shed to give flight to my own words.

Cornelia Parker has of course some experience of shed art...

 

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Deborah Levy reading aloud in her writing shed (video)

A short video made by Ana Godinho de Matos of Chameleoneye Films which features Booker-shortlisted writer Deborah Levy in her garden office writing shed reading from her book An Amorous Discourse into the Suburbs of Hell. The book is available from And Other Stories here. --------------------------------------

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Last Autumn leaves falling from apple tree onto Deborah Levy's writing shed

Last Autumn leaves falling from apple tree onto DEBORAH LEVY’s writing shed pic.twitter.com/tPgzNA4ECa

— Simon Prosser (@HamishH1931) October 29, 2018

You can read more about Deborah's writing shed here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Garden office poetry: Deborah Levy

Here is writer Deborah Levy reading her poem 'An amorous discourse in the suburbs of hell'  in her garden office which features prominently at the beginning, middle and end.

Deborah Levy AN AMOROUS DISCOURSE IN THE SUBURBS OF HELL from Chameleoneye Films on Vimeo.

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Deborah Levy: Shedworker

Deborah Levy, whose latest novel Hot Milk has been very well received and is up for numerous awards this year, has an interesting shedworking arrangement. She works from the Hampstead garden office in the back garden of her friend Celia Mitchell, widow of poet Adrian Mitchell who used to write in there. "It’s freezing in winter and sweltering in summer," she writes in the Guardian, "but I have grown to love my writing shed in every season... Most days I cycle to the shed at 8am after I have seen my daughter off to school."

Here she is inside it, reading from her work An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell.

Deborah Levy AN AMOROUS DISCOURSE IN THE SUBURBS OF HELL from Chameleoneye Films on Vimeo.

According to The White Review, she usually ends her writing day by sharing a glass of rum with Celia.

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