Life and Opinions of an Artist ; "A Time For Dreamers"

Sunday Reading: Literary Inspiration By  Erin Overbey  and  Joshua Rothman 5:00 A.M. Photograph by Paul Hosefros / NYT / Redux How  do writers find their stories? The answers to that question are as varied as the stories they tell. This week, we’re bringing you pieces from  The New Yorker’s  archive in which authors pull back the curtain, revealing where their ideas come from and how they are transformed into art. In a series of letters he wrote to Philip Roth, Saul Bellow explains how he wrote his early novels (“I was out to satisfy an irrepressible hunger for detail”); in her essay “Trading Stories,” Jhumpa Lahiri recounts the experience that formed the basis for “A Temporary Matter,” the first story that she wrote as an adult. Muriel Spark and Arthur Miller explore the creation of “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and “The Crucible,” respectively. Janet Flanner recalls her days as an expat writer in Paris, and Lilli...

Environment Life without plastic: pioneer families show how it’s done Carrier bags are easy to replace and milk can come in glass bottles. But what about deodorant, toothbrushes and clingfilm? Nosheen Iqbal   @nosheeniqbal Sat 29 Dec 2018  16.42 GMT Last modified on Sat 29 Dec 2018  17.25 GMT   Bettina and Mark Maidment with Dominic, six, and Dexter, three. Photograph: Sophia Evans for the Observer B ettina Maidment hasn’t emptied the kitchen bin since the beginning of November. The time before that was in August. “You can reduce your rubbish a lot,” she insists, pointing to her recycling and food compost bins. “I have two kids and they’re pretty anti-plastic – I am their mother after all – but it is do-able.” Maidment, 38, is the founder of  Plastic Free Hackney , a campaign to rid the east London borough of single-use plastic and has been serious about committing her family to plastic-fre...