«Breaking News» Close bond between authors and their cats is celebrated in a new book

Whether it is scribbling notes by hand, pecking at a typewriter or bashing a laptop keyboard, life as a writer can be a solitary existence. 

So it is of little surprise to learn that many of the great literary minds over the decades have all relied on a cat to keep them company. 

This close bond between authors, poets and their feline friends is celebrated in a new picture book, Writers and their Cats. 

Touching portraits capture 45 of the most prolific writers from the 20th and 21st centuries with their beloved pets.

American author Judy Blume, 80, is photographed in 1978 cradling a neighbours cat after her own had run away, while Man Booker Prize winner Marlon James, 47, was snapped in New York with Tom the cat before his death in 2017.  

Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn even credits her cat Roy with the success of her chart-topping title. 

Here, FEMAIL shares a selection of images from the book - and shares the stories behind them... 

Gloria Steinem 

Gloria Steinem cuddles her cat, Crazy Alice, in her New York apartment in March 1970. The writer said of her pet: 'She grew into a mysterious and self-willed companion'

Journalist and activist Gloria Steinem, 84, has been the proud owner of a number of cats over the years. 

Her favourite was her late gray Persian, Magritte. Steinem said: 'She became the cat of my life... Magritte was my teacher when it comes to a strong will and self-authority.

'When large numbers of women came to sit in a circle for a meeting, she sat on the arm of a big chair for hours, and became an alert participant . Even people who didn’t like cats were knocked out by Magritte.'

Ernest Hemingway 

Ernest Hemingway holds his cat Cristobal Colón in one hand as he uses the other to type while sitting at his desk at Finca Vigia, near San Francisco de Paula, Cuba, circa 1954. The writer was so fond of cats that he had dozens at a time and allowed them to sleep in a spare bedroom

Hemingway, who died aged 61 in 1961, was a renowed lover of cats, keeping dozens at any one time. 

'One cat just leads to another,' he wrote to his first wife, Hadley Mowrer, in 1943 . 'The place is so damned big it doesn't really seem as though there were many cats until you see them all moving like a mass migration at feeding time .'  

Hemingway's cats were always treated to the best and even had their own guest bedroom in the writer's Cuban home. Most of his moggies, or as he liked to call them, 'purr factories' and 'love sponges,' had free run of the tropical abode.

Raymond Chandler 

Raymond Chandler, pictured in 1948 with his black Persian cat Taki. He referred to the pet, who lived with the family for 20 years, as his 'secretary' because he sat with him as he wrote

Born in Chicago in 1888, Raymond Chandler became a detective fiction novelist and later a screenwriter after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. 

He described his pet cat Taki, who lived with the family for 20 years, as his 'secretary' in a 1945 letter to literary critic James Sandoe. 

He wrote: 'I call her that because she has been around me ever since I began to write, usually sitting on the paper I wanted to use or the copy I wanted to revise, sometimes leaping up against the typewriter and sometimes just quiet gazing out of the window from a corner of the desk, as much as to say, "The stuff you’re doing’s a waste of my time, bud".'

Judy Blume 

American author Judy Blume cuddles a neighbour's cat in an informal shot taken in 1978. Blume's own cat Chanel, one of several she's owned, had run away at the time 

American author Judy Blume, 80, has had animals since childhood, including several cats.

The writer, best known for her young adult novels, pays tribute to this special bond by writing pets into several of her novels.  

Recalling one particular favourite on her website, she wrote: 'We had a wonderful Calico cat who lived to be sixteen.' 

Marlon James

Jamaica-born author Marlon James, whose 2015 novel A Brief History of Seven Killings won the Man Booker Prize, with Tom the Cat at Jumel Terrace Books, in Harlem, New York. James told how he formed a relationship with Tom and returned to the city to see him before he died

Jamaica-born author Marlon James, whose 2015 novel A Brief History of Seven Killings won the Man Booker Prize, helped care for his friend's pet, Tom the Cat. 

Tom belonged to James' friends Kurt and Camilla Thometz, who owned a bookshop in Washington Heights, New York. 

The author said: 'Kurt also ran a bookstore, so you could say [Tom] was one of New York’s legendary bookstore cats... I think he got used to me, since he would jump in my bed and photobomb shoots.'

James was able to return to visit his friend Tom shortly before his death in 2017.

Helen Gurley Brown

Helen Gurley Brown, longtime editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, with one of her chocolate-point Siamese cats, Samantha and Gregory, at her New York apartment in 1965

Helen Gurley Brown, the longtime editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, was so taken by cats she even adopted 'Pussycat' as her preferred term of endearment for friends and loved ones. 

During Brown's tenure in the 1970s, Cosmopolitan's mascot and logo was a pink cartoon pussycat named Lovey who wore a big red bow. 

Brown even signed her name with a cat on occasion. 

Gillian Flynn

Gillian Flynn, 47, author of Gone Girl and Sharp Objects, is photographed at home with her beloved cat, Roy. The best-selling writer revealed the faithful black cat greets her when she comes home - and even 'helped' write her last two books and recent screenplays

Creator of Gone Girl and Sharp Objects, there is of little doubt Gillian Flynn, 47, is one of the most well-known authors of modern times. 

And she attributes at least part of her success to her cat, Roy. 

She said: 'Roy has "helped" me with my last two books and all my screenplays. He prefers to sit on the keyboard, so he can type things like GY*T^&$$^R^&h&&G!!! Now that I work on a tread desk he sits by me, watching.

She added: 'I have been a big believer that black cats are the best: affectionate, laid-back, and sweet.'

Writers and Their Cats by Alison Nastasi (Chronicle Books, £12.99). 

Link hienalouca.com

https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/08/close-bond-between-authors-and-their-cats-is-celebrated-in-a-new-book/
Main photo article Whether it is scribbling notes by hand, pecking at a typewriter or bashing a laptop keyboard, life as a writer can be a solitary existence. 
So it is of little surprise to learn that many of the great literary minds over the decades have all relied on a cat to keep them company. 
This close bond ...

It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.

Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.

Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca





https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/06/14/4FC69E6100000578-6135513-image-a-13_1536242304854.jpg