Every writer has that special place where he or she can write. Writers’ Retreats explores these quirky, private, and sometimes curious places, and unveils the stories associated with them — and the literature that was conceived and written in them.

Each of the 50 writers’ retreats is shown in a specially commissioned sketch by leading UK artist and illustrator Robert Littleford. The accompanying entry, meanwhile, begins with a concise summary of the writer’s life and work. The text goes on to describe how the author came to find his or her “special place” and, where possible using the writer’s own words, talks about what made that place so perfect for thinking and creating.

Author Neil Burkey has also painstakingly researched the writing methods of the writers he explores — most follow a set ritual before settling down to work, while others are more eccentric in what they require to get the creativity flowing… Some writers lie down to think — with a drink and cigarette to hand, like Truman Capote — or only write from midnight onward, sustained by black coffee, in the manner of Honoré de Balzac. Without these important spaces and determined working habits, no matter how eccentric, the world would perhaps never have been able to share and delight in the works of these celebrated writers.