From the bestselling author of The Secret Life of Bees comes a future classic for new and experienced writers, for readers and for those who simply want to know how to train their creativity and listen to their soul

Writing is more than language and story.
It also involves the creation of self.
Writing is about who we are and who we are becoming.

After taking up writing at the age of thirty, Sue Monk Kidd has created some of the world's most treasured stories. In Writing Creativity and Soul she shares exactly how she did it - from plunging her innermost depths, to voyaging to sacred spaces, to studying the precise methods of the greats and refining her own. Laying her creative journey bare, Sue explores the moments in which she lost her voice and when she found it again, as well as the profound insights she gained along the way.

Part memoir, part philosophical investigation, part advice to aspiring writers, this is a guide to awakening the soul. Everything that readers loved about The Secret Life of Bees is to be found in the pages of Writing Creativity and Soul - the warmth, the fierce intelligence, the wit, the spiritual hunger, the search for beauty and meaning and, perhaps above all, the rebel heart.

Details

ISBN13: 9781837265008
Format: Hardback
Number of Pages: 240
Edition: Main
Publication Date: 03 Feb 2026
Publisher: Canongate Books
Publication City, Country: Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 22(H)x13.8(L)x2.2(W)321
Weight (gm): 321

Author Biography

Sue Monk Kidd was raised in the small town of Sylvester, Georgia, a place that deeply influenced the writing of her first novel The Secret Life of Bees. An award-winning and international bestselling author, Kidd also authored The Invention of Wings and The Mermaid Chair, as well as several acclaimed memoirs, including Travelling with Pomegranates and The Dance of the Dissident Daughter. Her newest novel, The Book of Longings was published on April 21, 2020.

suemonkkidd.com

Reviews

A beautiful, generous gift to aspiring writers -- LILY KING
A beautiful ode to creativity and the inner world of the writer and artist. This book offers a gentle journey through many of Sue Monk Kidd's own inspirations. I read it in a single sitting and came away both inspired and deeply moved . . . A beautiful book of essays about getting back in touch with your creative spark -- EMMA GANNON
Sue Monk Kidd . . . shares the story of her late-blooming life as a writer with deep feeling and generosity . . . In inspiring detail, she reveals her own process for tapping into that creative flow and the craft secrets of her fiction, as well as those of other writers whose process she has studied * * Oprah Daily * *
A gorgeous book about creativity and the unconscious mind -- CLOVER STROUD
This is a magnificent book that will enrich your life whether you are a writer or not. Sue Monk Kidd is a treasure. I hope you'll read it and press it into the hands of the people you love -- DANI SHAPIRO
Warm and inspiring . . . Sue Monk Kidd is a treasure, and I feel lucky to have this book, a blend of memoir and thoughts on craft and writing life, to keep on my desk and read early mornings and late nights as I write something new -- MEGHA MAJUMDAR
Her exploration of art, humanity, and the mystical realms between is a must for all writers, creatives, and seekers . . . This book is a portal to greater things. As ever, Sue is guiding us toward them -- SARAH McCOY
This one is phenomenal. It is a primer for everyone who ever loved to read or loved to write -- ADRIANA TRIGIANI
A deeply personal book about a life in writing - creativity, spirituality, and growth, in Sue's unmistakably wise, generous voice -- CHRISTINA BAKER KLINE
If you are writing something or creating something, if you want to create something, if you are feeling stuck or are doubting yourself, this book is such a helpful companion -- ELIZABETH LESSER