On Being Ill

The subtle complexities of Virginia Woolf’s essay ‘On Being Ill’ continues to resonate with a new generation of readers today. On Being Ill is a valuable book for everybody who wants to connect with illness, disability and care through art and literature and look at it from a different perspective. Woolf’s original essay was first published exactly 100 years ago in 2026. In this collection contemporary authors reflect on this poignant work and its topic.

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. Woolf wrote the titular essay ‘On Being Ill’ in 1926, shortly after a worldwide pandemic.

Other contributors include  Daisy Lafarge, Charlie Hertzog Young, Kathryn Maris, Jameisha Prescod, Mina Holland, Eva Meijer, and others.