Writers’ Rooms, which appeared in the Guardian on a Saturday, never had a byline or mentioned who edited or compiled it, so when it disappeared at the end of July, I emailed its dedicated photographer Eamonn McCabe to see where it had gone. There was no announcement, no ‘Writers Rooms will return in September’, nothing to explain its absence.

McCabe had taken the photos of the various writers’ rooms since the series began in January 2007. In that time, the series had poked its nose into the literary dens inhabited by the likes of Anne Enright, John Banville, Jane Austen and plenty of others, with living authors describing their habits, trinkets and favourite distraction in deliciously colourful pieces. If, at any stage in your life, you have written for love or money, the series was some of the best voyeurism on offer. My favourite is Will Self’s study (pictured), with its orderly lines of post-its that I first discovered in the book How I Write.

The series justified all my own foibles and little acts of procrastination, which made it an unhealthy indulgence, but also gave me confidence that there’s no magic to writing. Nearly all of them involve a table and chair, and either plenty of paper or a laptop. The rest is inside the head of the author.

But anyway, it’s gone. For good.

My email to Eamonn McCabe asked if it was indeed dead and buried, and this was the response:

“Dear Markham, thanks for your email and I too am sorry to see it go. I’m glad you enjoyed the series and rest assure I am doing everything I can to bring it back (maybe ) in the Autumn..”

The Guardian readers’ editor offered some hope to add to McCabe’s comments:

Markham – I’m pretty sure Writers’ Rooms is only on summer hols, as is the Review Letters page, but we’ve passed your query to the editor of theSaturday Review in case this is not the case.  If you don’t hear from us to the contrary I think it’s safe to say that all will be restored next month.
Best wishes,
Helen Hodgson

But when I explained my email conversation with McCabe, the following came through:

Markham – you are right, alas.  The desk tells me that the series came to a natural end and there are no plans to revive it.
So sorry not to have more positive news.

The series was the first thing I read in the Saturday Guardian every weekend, and it’s sad to see it go, although it will live on in mimicry in several different forms (among them Sinead’s excellent Musical Rooms).

Pencils Down.