Fiction Addiction: Sarah Winman - in her own words

The cover of When God Was A Rabbit, and, right, author Sarah Winman.

In the UK, Sarah Winman is probably one of those people you stare at in the street and think, "I know that woman from somewhere." But once you say hello you realise to your horror that she only looks familiar because she's on the telly.

Before Winman became the bestselling author of When God Was A Rabbit (one of our May feature books), she was better known as an actor. Her CV reads like a compendium of UK drama: Holby City, Casualty, Taggart, The Bill, Midsomer Murders, The Forsyte Saga. As she relates in our conversation (below), she reached a point about six years ago that she was disillusioned with acting and retreated into writing.

I've finished reading the novel but I'm going to let it sit for a while before writing a wrap-up. I have mixed feelings about it. Yes, I laughed - several times. I even cried - briefly - but I was a little disappointed. I'll share my reasons later in the month. I'm wondering if Christine's feature book for this month - The Tiger's Wife - was a better choice. Has anyone out there read both books? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

In the meantime, I've put some questions to Sarah Winman, beginning with her transformation from actor into writer.

I'm not about to accuse you of being old, at a mere 46, but you're not one of these 20-year-old writing prodigies, either. What route did you take into writing?

Writing had always been part of my life - journals, bad poetry, that sort of thing. Then I started to write scripts, as most actors do, and as I discovered my own words, my relationship with acting changed. Then about six years ago, life presented me with a challenge - one that allowed me to step back and reassess my life. I realized I was quite disillusioned with the acting profession and my creative life. It needed a shot of joy. I wanted to create art for art's sake without the need to earn a living, without any expectation attached to it. And so I enrolled in an adult education centre called City Lit. I enrolled in their basic fiction course called Exploring Fiction. Two terms later I had begun a novel.

How did your acting background help you take up novel-writing?
I guess it's not really a great leap, since both mediums are about storytelling.

Exactly. It is all about storytelling. It's also about authenticity in the way you tell that story. My acting style is quite understated - my writing, hopefully, is too.

Does your background make it easier for you to be in the spotlight, and to take criticism?

No, quite the opposite. To have been a jobbing actor/artist for all this time and then to have a moment of recognition is very strange, and - dare I say it - uncomfortable. I've lived in rather a quiet, gentle bubble for years. Criticism is something you gain perspective on as you get older. In this, my age helps. Criticism is part of the art world, part of putting your painting, book, play out into the world. If you can't handle it, don't do it. Negative criticism is only that - one person's opinion. It does not negate the work, the effort or the journey and all you learnt during the process: viewed like that, lessons its power. Likewise, a great review is lovely, but again it's one opinion. Enjoy it for what it is - but don't let it make you complacent. You still want to write another book, a better book. As long as you keep focussed on the work, then all's well.

When God Was A Rabbit references many events that shook the world - John Lennon's assassination, Diana's death, 9/11. You're about the same age as your heroine - how have these events affected you?

We are an amalgam of all experience - personal, societal, global. I remember those events, where I was, what I was doing, especially John Lennon's assassination and 9/11. The lead-up to 9/11 in the book was exactly my day - how my day unfolded. How we behave, feel at the time becomes part of who we are, igniting our feelings of injustice, of love, of compassion, of anger. Unfortunately, it is just such acts of violence that pull us out of lethargy and make us feel alive and fuel opinion. I suppose that's what I'm saying in the book about violence - it's senseless, shocking, but always there somewhere in the background.

Was your childhood anything like that of your protagonist, Elly?

Yes, in many ways. Although not autobiographical, the book is very personal. The decades of my childhood were the Sixties and the Seventies. I grew up in the street I describe in the book and summers were spent in Cornwall. Childhood freedom was a gift freely offered by parents, and adventures were plenty. All I wanted was to be on, by, in the sea and my imagination was forged by that passion and landscape.


Were you taken aback by the attention the book received, even before it was released?

Yes, I still don't quite understand it. But, there again, I don't think I'm meant to. It has a lot to do with luck and timing - which is out of everyone's hands - and the fact that my publisher has done a great job.

Describe how you felt the day the book was released.

Relieved. We had quite a long lead time. Proofs had gone out in July and so by the day of publication, I think we all breathed a sigh of relief that it had finally birthed and was in the world.

What are your favourite novels?

Toni Morrison: Beloved, Song of Solomon. Tim Winton: Cloudstreet. John Irving: A Prayer for Owen Meany. Sarah Waters: The Night Watch. Jeanette Winterson: Sexing the Cherry. Virginia Woolf: Mrs Dalloway. Ian McEwan: Atonement. Elizabeth Bowan: Death of the Heart. Graham Greene: Brighton Rock. Andrea Levy: Small Island... I could go on!

When's your second international bestseller due? (No pressure...)

Luckily, I don't have a due date, so I can write in my own time and continue the process organically.


Any plans to visit New Zealand

Next year maybe? I have some very lovely friends there.(Hello Sarah, Bruce, Suzie et al! xx)