Debuts and Reading Inspiration: Guest Editor, Maddie Mortimer

‘Judgement is rarely positive or helpful, I try to remain open to anything and everything.’

Photo Credit: Ben Mankin

As a debut novelist yourself, I wondered if you have read any other debuts this year that have really impressed and excited you?

I loved Rebecca Watson’s Little Scratch - it had a brilliant musicality. Claire Louise Bennett Checkout 19 made me feel incredibly excited about reading and writing generally, which is all you can ask from a book.

Could you tell us a little bit more about how the stunning cover of Maps came to life?

There were a few options, and designer Holly Ovendon as well as the Picador art team were very receptive to my thoughts, which I was so grateful for. She’s done an amazing job; it feels like quite a radical, unapologetic cover, which I love. That particular blue was also my mother’s favourite colour, which was a lovely accident. 

And – because we ask all the authors we speak to this same question – do you judge a book by its cover? 

Yes, although I desperately try not to. Judgement is rarely positive or helpful, I try to remain open to anything and everything. 

Maddie’s Reading List for Inspiration:
I reread Anne Carson’s poetry and non-fiction as if someone’s about to take them away from me. Nox, a scrapbook elegy to her brother, was a huge inspiration for the more formally and visually playful elements of Maps. I have very eclectic, broad reading tastes, but returned frequently to Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, Nabakov’s Pale Fire, to Max Porter, Renata Adler, Ali Smith, Audre Lorde, George Saunders and Mark Z Danielewski whilst writing.

To purchase Maddie’s reading list for inspiration, view our curated list on bookshop.org here.

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