Margaret Drabble, the renowned British novelist and essayist, has shared reflections on her recent creative process and personal losses, revealing the profound impact of grief on her writing. Drabble, who has published numerous acclaimed works over her career, has not written long-form fiction since the death of her daughter Becky in 2017, who passed away from cancer at age 53.

Becky Drabble was a poet and essayist and co-founder of The Literary Consultancy, an organization supporting emerging writers. Her passing has deeply affected her mother’s approach to writing. Margaret Drabble explained that she lost interest in constructing fictional worlds featuring other characters, instead focusing on shorter, more personal narratives. “It felt false” to continue writing long-form fiction without her daughter’s presence in her creative imagination, she said.

Despite this creative shift, Drabble maintains close family ties. She remains close to her sister Helen, an art historian, and her brother Richard, a King's Counsel. Her two sons have pursued careers in the arts and academia; Joe Swift is a television gardener, while Adam Drabble is an emeritus professor at Balliol College with a young family.

Drabble currently lives in Oxford and has expressed contentment with her daily routine, which includes reading and social visits. She also cares for Michael, a person close to her, whom she visits and reads to regularly. “He is calm now,” she said, adding that moments of quiet happiness, such as when he smiles, make her feel she has done her best.

On the subject of mortality, Drabble conveys a philosophical and sometimes bleak perspective, drawing on her late father’s reflections about losing interest in future events. She quoted the French phrase "Le silence éternel des ces espaces infinis m’effraie" ("the silence of infinite spaces frightens me") and expressed a sobering view of humanity’s trajectory. “We’re a horrible species, really, and we’re ricocheting along these paths of self-destruction," she remarked, suggesting that humanity might ultimately face catastrophic consequences, a notion she likened to the tone of Jonathan Swift.

Drabble is scheduled to speak at the Henley Literary Festival on Sunday, October 11. Her latest work, *The Great Good Places*, was recently published by Canongate.