Plane English ; Heathrow Airport's First Writer-in-Residence Alain de Botton Reveals Why Such a Usually Dispiriting Place Can Be a Great Inspiration

Summary

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IF YOU were asked to take a Martian to visit a single place that captures all the themes running through the modern world -- from our faith in technology to our destruction of nature, from our interconnectedness to our romanticising of travel -- then you would almost certainly have to head to an airport. Airports, in all their horror, interest and beauty, are the imaginative centres of our civilisation.

I was therefore intrigued when, a few months ago, I heard that BAA, the owner of Heathrow Airport, had taken the unusual decision to appoint a writer-inresidence. This character would be given free rein to wander the premises for a week in August, from the control tower to the baggage carousels, and talk to staff and passengers alike. Then he or she would be asked to sit at a specially constructed desk in the departures hall and, in full view of everyone (with big screens projecting to the public what was being written on the computer), write a book in a few weeks, for publication in mid-September.

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Extract

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Plane English ; Heathrow Airport's First Writer-in-Residence Alain de Botton Reveals Why Such a Usually Dispiriting Place Can Be a Great Inspiration

This seemed like a rare and fascinating offer. As a writer, I know how hard it is to have a reason to leave the house but more significantly, how hard it is to look for inspiration beyond domestic or historical events (which is why too much of contemporary literature is restricted to personal experience or the archives). At the same time, very few organisations can be bothered to open themselves up to strangers, who might ask ...

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