Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations

Carson McCullers

"I'm drinking hot tea and not doing much."

Not nearly so powerful as a Long Island Iced Tea, McCullers' favorite drink while writing was a mixture of hot tea and sherry that she kept in a thermos. She named the concoction "sonnie boy" and, often claiming it was only tea, would drink straight through the workday. McCullers must have felt the liquor helped her creativity. At Yaddo, the famous writers' colony, she began with a beer at the typewriter just after breakfast, then moved on to her "sonnie boy," and finished with cocktails in the evening.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.