Emeli Sandé: ‘The first tattoo I got was “A Room of one’s own”’

‘This book awoke something in me about identity… I remember looking at my hands and realising I was different, and this was going to affect me for the rest of my life. But then also, I found so much strength and inspiration in her survival.’

‘I love the irony and the sarcasm of it. If you’re trying to talk to a man or a woman who doesn’t quite understand the need for feminist thought or the need for progress, or really empathise with the indecencies and inequalities we face, you have to treat it in this way.’

‘It’s so colourfully written, and I think being in Africa at the same time as reading about Africa, about a civil war that I really hadn’t much knowledge on prior to reading this book, made everything come to life. It made everything so real.’

‘The first tattoo I ever got was “A room of one’s own”. And I just had this feeling inside of me, I felt finally I was free from doing what was expected of me. It was my first rebellion, really.’

‘I definitely connected with her in many ways, reading about her struggle, and how determined she was to become Maria Callas, this famous opera singer … She’s one of the first singers that really made me see the voice as a musical instrument.’