Ali Smith’s “quite lazy” writing routine

“I spend lots of time staring into space and wandering around the room.”

Welcome to the latest issue of Subtle Maneuvers. Previously, we chatted with Susan Chen about painting in a pandemic.

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Ali Smith (b. 1962)

Today is the Scottish novelist’s 57th birthday, and tomorrow is the publication day for her latest novel, Summer, which completes the acclaimed quartet of seasonal novels that she began in 2017. That same year, Smith told the Paris Review about her daily routine: She usually goes to bed at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and gets up at about 9:00 a.m. Once she’s up and about, she doesn’t start writing immediately: