What Author Hanako Footman Is Reading, Watching & Listening To Right Now 

Hanako Footman is a British-Japanese writer best known for her hit debut novel Mongrel, which tells the story of three women and their identities, exploring themes of isolation, longing, love, and hope. The book received rave reviews when it was published in February this year, and was shortlisted for the Waterstones debut fiction prize. Here, Footman – who is also an actor, with roles in productions including TV show Defending The Guilty and 2019 film Official Secrets – shares her cultural recommendations...

The Last Book I Couldn’t Put Down... The Hours by Michael Cunningham. Good lord, that man was channelling some godly force when he wrote that. Utterly precise and mesmerising. It had me in tears; the whole experience was frankly religious.

My Favourite Reading Spot... The hot stone beaches of Hydra [in Greece].

The Song I’m Playing On Repeat... I stumbled across a song called Where The Watermelons Rot by Madelynne Whitt on a ‘Witchy Songs’ Spotify playlist I saved a while back. It’s seductive and hypnotic, and it puts me in the mood for the project that I’m currently writing [a feature film]. It’s that or the endless ‘storm sounds’ YouTube video I have on repeat as I write.

The Artist Who Inspires Me Most... Jean-Marc Vallée. The way he honours character, his rhythm, the music in all his work, and the way he understands memory, trauma and the quotidian. He is a genius and gone too soon. I realise I’m referring to him in the present tense, but that is how he and his work feel to me. Ever present.  

A Piece Of Art I’d Love To Have On My Wall... Hilma Af Klint’s No. 7, Adulthood. Though I’m not sure I have a wall big enough for it. I’m also very much in love with film photography and would love a Man Ray. I went to an exhibition of his at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum when I was 14 and it completely changed me.

The Cultural Icon I’d Most Like To Meet... I have the biggest crush on Angelina Jolie. I recently met her, and it left me dizzy in the most perfect way. I was practically on the verge of tears (her work in Girl, Interrupted was another seminal moment in my teens that changed me) and she was so gracious, honest, connected and kind. I was blown away. I left feeling bigger, somehow. Bolder. If you’ll indulge me in a time machine, then Édith Piaf. I love her eternally.

The Movie I Recommend Everyone Should Watch... Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It makes me giddy with excitement. The songs, the costumes, Jane and Marilyn seducing old rich men out of their money... What more could you possibly want?

A Fictional World I’d Love To Inhabit... Harry Potter, always and forever.

Jamie Styles is a freelance culture and lifestyle writer