Walking is an integral part of my daily practice as a writer. Specifically walking to lose myself, which has become a source of enrichment for my imagination. Sometimes I take a bus to its final destination and wander through unfamiliar neighborhoods. Each unexpected turn illuminates my imagination and all its characters, helping me to realize García Lorca’s prophecy: “I’ve often lost myself, in order to find the burn that keeps everything awake.” As I lose myself, the characters in my novels feel more real. It’s as if shedding parts of me allows their humanity to flourish.
Occasionally, my aimless strolls throw up surprising ideas. I once found myself on a road that housed various architectural styles. I thought, if the same street can effortlessly hold different designs—from modernism to art nouveau and brutalism—then a book can withstand variety too. Looking back, I wonder if this particular street in Brussels inspired the structure of The Seers—one continuous paragraph juxtaposing different voices, ideas, and timelines.
Being lost, I now believe, is an essential part of being a novelist, because always being grounded in certainty and the real world constrains the imagination.
—Sulaiman Addonia, author of The Seers (Coffee House Press, 2025)
Photo credit: Fred Debrock