Maggie O'Farrell / A Creative Practice

Maggie is the author of seven novels and winner of both the Somerset Maugham and Costa Novel Award. Born in Northern Ireland, she now lives in Edinburgh. Maggie took Laura to Little Sparta, the garden of Ian Hamilton Finlay, set in the Pentland Hills, south of the city. Finlay was a Scottish poet, writer and artist and, collaborating with stone carvers and sculptors, he created a beautiful, truly original garden. Our first podcast series, titled A Creative Practice, follows the writer and broadcaster Laura Barton as she journeys with six creative women to the places they find inspiring – from a walled garden in Wales to the rugged coastline of Northern Ireland.