In the summer of 2009 Alain de Botton will be invited by the owners of Heathrow airport to become their first ever Writer in Residence. He will be installed in the middle of Terminal 5 on a raised platform with a laptop connected to screens enabling passengers to see what he is writing & to come & share their stories. He will meet travellers from around the world & will be given unprecedented access to wander the airport & speak with everyone from window cleaners & baggage handlers to air traffic controllers & cabin crew. Working with the renowned documentary photographer Richard Baker de Botton will produce an extraordinary meditation upon the nature of place time & our daily lives. He will explore the magical & the mundane personal & collective experiences & the interactions of travellers & workers all over this familiar but mysterious site. Like all airports Heathrow (the 15th century village of Heath Row lies beneath the short stay car park) is a non-place that we by definition want to leave but it also provides a window into many worlds
- through the thousands of people it dispatches every day. A Week at the Airport" is sure to delight de Bottons large following & anyone interested in the stories behind the way we live."