When journalist Nicola Slawson started her newsletter The Single Supplement in 2019, there was precious little in media that celebrated the joys and complexities of being a single woman. Instead, there was the usual barrage of tired, patronizing takes and the straight-up failure of the culture to comprehend that women can be partner-free and lead a fulfilled life.

We’re delighted to have had the chance to talk with Nicola about how her experience writing The Single Supplement led to her recent book Single, and specifically, what it was like for her to narrate the audiobook edition. Read on to learn more – and listen to a clip from the Single audiobook below!

Penguin Random House Audio: Thank you for taking the time to talk with us! First things first, could you please tell us a little bit about your book, Single?

Single is a non-fiction book which explores being unattached in a world designed for couples. It’s a mixture of memoir and interviews with more than 50 people from all walks of life, some who have never been in a relationship, others who have been widowed or gotten divorced. It’s an honest look at how challenging being single can be but also an important reminder that not having a partner doesn’t mean you’re in a waiting room, biding your time for your life to start – you can find joy in the life that you are already living.

PRHA: If you could pick one thing that our couples-obsessed culture gets wrong about being single (recognizing the reductive nature of picking just one thing), what would you say that is?

There is this assumption that all single women are miserable and desperate and that our biggest concern is how we can quickly find someone – anyone – in order to quickly end such a terrible predicament. The reality is that most single women I know live good and full lives. If they date, that’s only a small part of their lives. We have so much more going on! Lots of people I spoke to for my book were either taking a break from dating or simply not interested, yet those stories are rarely told when it comes to books and films and TV shows. 

PRHA: Through your newsletter The Single Supplement, you’ve built a vibrant reading community around these themes. What was it like for you to bring insights from the Supplement into book form?

I remember a friend saying “oh it will be really easy to write [the book] because you’ll just be piecing old newsletters together.” But that’s not how it worked. I wanted to write fresh material and to interview a diverse range of single people, for starters. There was also the fact that a lot of the newsletters until that point had been published during the pandemic and although there were lots of universal themes I still wanted to cover in the book, they had been written through the lens of all the endless lockdowns and uncertainty so in many respects I was starting from scratch. But of course the writing of the newsletter informed the book. Authors of fiction often say that their books and characters take on a life of their own, and I found that to be true with writing non-fiction as well. There were things I ended up writing about that I hadn’t envisaged when I first started. 

PRHA: After narrating the Single audiobook, are there moments from the recording that you’re particularly excited for listeners to hear?

I really loved recording the “One Is A Whole Number” chapter because I think it sums up my philosophy and approach. In particular, I couldn’t stop smiling when I read the part about being at a gig and realising I’d been single for 10 years. It’s such a joyful section of the book and early readers and listeners have really connected with it.

Was there anything special you did to prepare for recording the audiobook? (And related, what’s the one thing you brought with you into the studio that you couldn’t do without?)

I didn’t really do anything special other than some breathing exercises before the first session, as I was quite nervous. But the producers really put me at ease so I felt OK the next few times I went. The one thing I brought with me was an apple as I heard that eating an apple before recording helps so you don’t have that kind of sticking/clicking sound you might otherwise get. I found it really helped but one of the days I forgot to bring one so I drank apple juice instead and that also worked well.

And last but not least! What is the last great thing you listened to? (It can be an audiobook, a podcast, an album, a song, anything that made your ears and mind happy).

The British band IDER have a new album out called Late To The World. Quite a few of the themes explored on the tracks – especially the titular one which is about feeling left behind or out of sync with where society expects you to be – chime really well with what I write about in Single. I feel like it’s the book’s companion album!