Woman's Hour - 22/10/2009

With Jenni Murray. 'A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.' Eighty years ago this month, Virginia Woolf published these words in an essay that was to become one of the seminal feminist texts of our age. A Room of One's Own has shaped the way in which creative achievement by men and women is viewed, and provided a point of reference for generations of female writers. Woolf used the 'room' as a symbol for privacy, leisure time and financial independence, all of which had been historically lacking for women. In a special programme to mark the anniversary, Woman's Hour examines this remarkable essay and its continuing relevance to women today who are struggling to find the mental and physical space for their creativity. Jenni Murray is joined by the biographer Hermione Lee, the Woolf expert Susan Sellers and the novelists Val McDermid and Jill Dawson, who discuss their writing rooms. The programme also visits a room that Virginia Woolf called her own - a specially-constructed writing lodge at the bottom of her garden at Monk's House in Sussex.