Ida Hagen

What was your favorite book as a child?

The first books I remember being obsessed with are “Mio Min Mio” by Astrid Lingdgren and “George’s Marvelous Medicine” by Roald Dahl.

Do you remember the original reason or motivation why you started writing creatively?

It’s tough to pinpoint exactly what it was that made me start writing. Part of it was that I had a teacher who encouraged me to write so that I had a quiet way to pass the time in class when I finished tasks too soon. But I also just loved books so much that it just made sense to me that I would write as well. I just wanted to be able to do what the authors of my favourite books were doing.

What was the most adventurous or thrilling thing you ever did/experienced?

I’m not really an adventurous person by nature, but if there’s one thing then it is moving to London for my undergraduate degree.

Do you listen to music while reading or writing?

Yes, compulsively. I listen to music almost around the clock anyway, but I love a song or a playlist that matches the rhythm and tempo of what I am writing or reading. It’s for the same reason that I can’t really listen to music when reading poetry — it messes with the rhythm of the text. There’s nothing that can bring out melancholic moods quite like “Both Sides” by Joni Mitchel and I always listen to the movie soundtrack of “Pride and Prejudice” (2005) when reading Victorian novels. The music takes away a bit of that procrastination of the brick of a book or the empty Word document and having to get up to flip the vinyl record also helps to get me out of a funk.