Hannah Kent
Hannah Kent
Hannah Kentis a contemporary Australian writer, and the author of the bestselling novel Burial Rites...
NationalityAustralian
ProfessionWriter
CountryAustralia
begins carrie david good lionel morning room
You know you're going to have a good day when your morning begins with breakfast in the same room as Carrie Tiffany, David Vann and Lionel Shriver.
parents sister
I was a very imaginative child, and my parents were very encouraging of that. My sister and I would put on plays; I would write my own stories.
certainly connection people
I still don't know why, exactly, but I do think people can have a spiritual connection to landscape, and I certainly did in Iceland.
drawn writers
Most writers are drawn to what is unknown, rather than what is clear in any tale.
dismiss guided
I don't like to pretend I was guided in any way by the supernatural world, but the more you talk about that, the easier it is to dismiss those notions.
hooked reminds term
I really hate the term 'historical novel' - it reminds me of bodice-rippers. But I'm hooked on research, and I really, really enjoy it.
blindly dead draft ends expected feeling point process walking
I had expected that at some point during the first draft a light would go on, and I would understand, finally, how to write a book. This never happened. The process was akin to blindly walking in the dark, feeling my way only by touch, and only recognising dead ends when I smacked into them.
iceland firsts stories
I first heard the story of Agnes Magnusdottir when I was an exchange student in the north of Iceland.
sight miserable my-family
If I believed everything everyone had ever told me about my family I'd be a sight more miserable than I am now
lonely ravens lambs
So lonely I make friends with the ravens that prey on lambs.
home winter long
I've been half-frozen for so long, it is as though the winter has set up home in my marrow.
prayer mistake woven
As though prayer could simply pluck sin out. But any woman knows that a thread, once woven, is fixed in place; the only way to smooth a mistake is to let it all unravel.
treachery foe
The treachery of a friend is worse than that of a foe.
horse prayer mistake
I have made a mistake. They condemn me to death and I ask for a boy to coach me for it. A red-headed boy, who gobbles his buttered bread and toddles to his horse with the seat of his pants wet, this is the young man they hope will get me on my knees, full of prayer. This is the young man I hope will be able to help me, although with what and how I cannot think.