Diana Evans: ‘The summer I went on a writing retreat – and learned to risk everything’
In 2001, the novelist spent two months living in a cottage called Owl on a small island, surrounded by other women and working on her first book. The experience made her brave enough to be herself
Lolly Adefope: ‘In Edinburgh I kissed a boy in the afternoon – by 4am we both had new partners’
On a first trip to the fringe, she was desperate for comedy to seep into her and discovered a summer camp that became a second home
Olivia Laing: ‘I grew wilder. I moved through the wood barefoot, I could see in the dark’
‘I pee in the undergrowth. I enjoy being an animal’: Amy Liptrot on her wild, pregnant summer
Jay Griffiths: ‘I walked 800km in a heatwave to get out of a severe depression’
David Lammy on the summer he lost a close friend to 7/7
The MP recalls the 24 hours in July 2005 when he celebrated London’s successful Olympic bid – then learned that his schoolfriend James had died in the terror attacks
