“You become prolific by being the sort of nerdy person who stays home alone more than most people could stand, so just keep that in mind,” Rebecca Solnit says kindly when I say that prepping for a conversation with her is an intimidating task. The 63-year-old non-fiction giant and activist is not just intellectually rigorous and deeply researched on activism, feminism, climate change, urbanisation and politics, but inexhaustible; only a serious Solnit lover could keep up.
We’re speaking ahead of her appearance at Hay Festival and the release of No Straight Road Takes You There, her 28th book. This is a figure I have to double-check with her over email, and even in that count, she has chosen to exclude some smaller books.
