The Royal Literary Fund asked me to talk about location and the writer, so I spoke about my daily walks along the river, and how the Thames in London is a constant source of inspiration and renewal. I also give a shout-out to my friend the Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji.
For me, writing is frequently inspired by, certainly informed by, place. And often that place is London. It’s not so much about always looking for the next great location, as being open to a great location finding me. The closure of an East-End mini-cab office was part of the inspiration for my novel Foxy-T. While the ‘Paint Frame’, a scene painting studio backstage at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, became the crime scene in my detective novel The Fountain in the Forest.
But it’s not only major factors like ‘setting’ that can be inspired by particular places. Locations can also provide a different kind of creative sustenance, a vital resource in the craft and nitty-gritty of writing.
You can listen on the RLF website here… (N.B. It is the second of the two clips on my RLF profile page.)
I’m currently an RLF Fellow at Royal Holloway University of London, and looking forward to being back on campus in a couple of weeks, where my role is to offer free and confidential writing advice to anyone in the Royal Holloway community that asks for it. Visit the RLF website to find out more about the important work they do to support writing and writers.
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Buy The Fountain in the Forest (Faber, 2018)…
Piece of Paper Press & tonywhite.london 
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